Along For the Ride
by Eliza Ghost
Summary: WB gives Hyde a motorcycle, which lands him in the hospital. Red and Kitty aren't used to sharing Hyde with another parent, especially not during grave situations, and Jackie doesn't like when other girls are drawn to Hyde's new "wounded puppy" status. Hyde, meanwhile, isn't used to this much attention and feels smothered.
1. Training Wheels

**A/N: Hey everyone! So after that super long hiatus, I am back to writing fanfiction! For fans of my other T7S story, don't worry. I'll get back to that one. But I thought first I'd test the waters with a new story to change things up a bit and get my creative juices flowing. So, this will be a short multi-chapter fic (maybe 5, maybe more, we'll see) taking place in season 7. The next part will be up by the end of the week! Pinky promise. An a special thanks to my friend _nannygirl_ for helping me out with the start of this one. Hope you like it!**

* * *

"Kids, I have a surprise!" WB smiled with satisfaction when, as predicted, this announcement shut his kids up. Even Kelso, who had been torturing Steven by constantly bringing up his relationship with Angie, looked interested.

"We're going to Disney World?" Steven feigned childish excitement.

"Why don't you come outside and see for yourself?"

Steven followed WB to the parking lot of Grooves, Angie and Kelso trailing close behind.

As they walked, WB prefaced his gift. "Well, son, I was thinking about how many father-son things we missed out on doing together. Riding a bike for example-"

"Yeah," Kelso interrupted, "Hyde's no good at riding bikes, probably on account of how his mom was too busy whoring around to teach him." Hyde punched him in the arm, as expected. Only momentarily phased, Kelso smugly said to Angie, "yeah, I'm a pro biker rider myself. Been a master of the two-wheeler since I was eight. I'm real advanced for my age."

"Kelso, man, that's not early. Most kids ditch the tricycle when they're, like, five."

"Right," WB said awkwardly to reign the conversation back in. "So as I was saying, we never got to do things like that, so I thought I'd do you one better." He stopped in front of a brand new motorcycle.

"Man, are you serious? This is mine?"

"It's all yours, son." WB's smile was enormous as he handed Steven the keys. He knew money couldn't buy happiness, but it sure could put a smile on a kid's face. He'd had hundreds of moments like this with Angie: Christmas, birthdays, graduation-he was fortunate enough to have the money to reward his daughter for being the wonderful person she was. They had lots of fun moments without presents, of course, but there was something so exciting about watching someone's face as they received a surprise. He knew his son probably hadn't had his fair share of moments like this with his mother, nor the man he had thought was his father. He also knew, however, that although he wanted to even out Angie and Steven's share of moments a bit, he couldn't give something to just Steven. It was the way you'd treat a three year old who just got a baby brother-the baby gets lots of attention and gifts, so sometimes you get the older one something too, to ward off jealousy and sibling resentment. So, of course, he had something for his little girl too. "And Angie, for you." He gave her keys on a purple keychain.

"You're not giving me a motorcycle too, are you?"

"No," WB replied, noticing the disappointed look on Kelso's face. The boy was probably already picturing a motorcycle with a sidecar that they could share. "But I did get you a car." He pointed to a gorgeous cherry red convertable.

In a rare moment of lost composure, Angie sqealed and hugged her father. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best."

"Yeah, man, this is...thanks, WB. Really."

"You're welcome." WB walked over to Angie's car, which she and Kelso were already examining. He opened the back door and pulled out a helmet, which he promptly gave to his son. "A couple of rules, kids. Steven, you better wear this, and Angie-" his eyes went from his daughter to her boyfriend, "don't let anyone else drive this. Got it?" His kids both assured him that they did, and so he said the words he had been waiting to deliver since he made his purchases; "let's take these for a spin."

* * *

The hospital could be overwhelming. Kitty Forman had worked here long enough not only to know that, but to keep calm on days that it was. Today was one of those days. It had been very busy the past few hours, a blur of stretchers, wheelchairs, and IV poles. It was easy to miss something in the jumble. Kitty had been caught up in a whirlwind of emotions when it happened; she was saying goodbye to one of her favorite patients, a teenaged girl who had been burned in a fire and was finally ready to be released, when the stretcher passed behind her. She heard the quick back and forths that were customary when emergency patients came in-the patients age, gender, the situation. It had gone in one ear and out the other, though-she'd only noticed at all because of the whir of speedy stretcher wheels and the loud, urgent voice of the person pushing it. By the time she turned around, all she saw was a pair of boots going around the corner, and then nothing.

She turned her attention back to the high schooler. "Well, Paloma, I think I speak for all of us when I say we are so, so proud of you and excited for you to be going home!" She grabbed the handle's of the girl's wheelchair and led her out of the room, starting in the direction of the waiting room, where she knew for a fact that Paloma's extended family was waiting with balloons and cards.

"I'll miss you and the other nurses, but I'm so ready to get out of here." Paloma smiled at Kitty.

Kitty giggled. "I bet you are. Do you have any big plans to celebrate?"

"Mom said she'd make my favorite lasagna tonight for dinner, and Becky, my best friend-"

"I remember Becky. She seemed like a very sweet girl."

"She's alright," Paloma joked. "No, she's the best. So, Becky is coming over for dinner, and tomorrow we're having a movie marathon at my house."

"That's wonderful, dear."

Kitty saw the balloons as soon as they entered the waiting room. "Surprise!" Paloma's mother gestured to her grandparents, who held the balloons and a teddy bear. Kitty, however, got a much less pleasant surprise; The second thing she saw upon entering the waiting room was Michael Kelso and Steven's sister, Angie. She was used to seeing her son or husband, who often picked her up or came to bring lunch, but there was no good reason for those two to be here. "Excuse me," she said to Paloma's family before making a beeline to the familiar faces.

"Oh, hey, Mrs. Forman!" Kelso broke into a grin, albiet not the giant, unrestrained one he usually bore.

Already, Kitty could feel her palms beginning to sweat, and her stomach tied in knots. "Kids, what are you doing here? What happened? Did someone fall off that stupid water tower again?"

"Well," Angie started hesitantly, "Dad got Steven a motorcycle..." She looked to her boyfriend for reassurance. "And he crashed it."

Kitty looked in horror at Kelso for conformation, hoping the boy would break out with an exuberant "we got ya, Mrs. F!" Instead, the boy turned to Angie and simply said, in a hushed voice "I _told_ you he was no good with bikes."

* * *

 **A/N: So that's our prologue! I hope you enjoyed and come back for the next chapters! Coming up: will Hyde be okay? How will everyone react to the news of the accident? Thanks for reading! Until next time, dear readers. Stay tuned :)**


	2. Tough Break

**A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for those of you who have read, reviewed, favorited, or followed so far! This chapter is a bit heavier than the last, but I hope you enjoy it as much!**

* * *

Kitty felt like all of the wind had been knocked out of her. Half of her wanted to stay and prod Kelso and Angie for more information, the other half of her wanted to return to the ward and find Steven herself. "My dad rode in the ambulance with him," Angie offered before she even had to ask.

"He was screaming like a banshee," Kelso added, giving Kitty another valuable piece of information and alleviating her biggest fear; Steven was alive. "You know, that reminds me. What even is a banshee?"

Kitty decided that this was enough information from the kids, and dashed off in search of Steven. She nearly bumbed into a gurney in her rush, and as soon as she dodged it, a doctor approached her, asking if she could change a patient's bandages. "Uh huh," she muttered, utterly distracted, and then pivoted. "Wait, Doctor Matthews, have you heard of a motorcycle accident patient coming in?"

"Uh, yeah, I just saw them take him off to radiology. But the patient whose bandages-"

"Oh, change them yourself!" She left the doctor sputtering and confused as she headed towards the radiology department. On the way, she spotted WB walking in the direction she'd just come from. "WB! WB!" She scurried over to him.

"Oh, Kitty..."

"I just heard. What happened?"

WB tried to sum it up for her. What had happened was that he was in the backseat of Angie's car, with Angie driving and Kelso in the front seat. WB made sure they took roads that were usually pretty empty, and Steven was driving some distance behind Angie. They'd taken a right turn, and after a short distance, WB heard a loud commotion, followed by a yelp. Turning around, he saw the motorcycle lying horizontally, little bits of it scattered on the road. And then there was Steven, also lying motionless in the road, seemingly unconscious. WB yelled for Angie to pull over, and quickly all three were out of the car and running to the crash. Soon he was doling out orders; Kelso was to watch out for incoming cars, and Angie was to drive to the nearest building and call for help.

In reality, the ambulance had shown up fifteen minutes after Angie left, but it felt like much longer. A moment after WB reached him, the boy came to, and even though the motorcycle helmet covered up half of his face, WB could see that Steven was in a lot of pain. It would have been obvious anyways, from the muffled screams and body language. Not to mention the blood, which seemed, thankfully, to be coming only from his leg. WB tried to keep up conversation, but it was very nearly one sided. Hyde offered pained, one word answers every few questions, which was a moderate comfort. Finally they were headed towards the hospital, this time with Angie trailing behind while they rode in an ambulance.

The ambulance was overwhelming. Telling this to Kitty, WB felt a bit foolish; afterall, she dealt with the hecticness of emergency medicine daily. From what he could tell, they were checking for vitals and alertness. The admitting doctor checked for internal bleeding (luckily, none), and the next course of action was to do a CT scan followed by x-rays.

Kitty was grateful that WB was more informative than Kelso. "How is he?"

"Well, he's not happy, but he's alive."

Kitty nodded her head. The man looked tired, but calm. How could he be calm? Well, she told herself, WB knew a lot more about the situation and he was calm, so maybe she should be calm. But she couldn't be.

"They said it would be a while," WB said. "I was going to get some coffee and sit with the kids. Do you need anything?"

"I'm going to try to get someone to cover my shift. I ought to call Red. Oh! Can you make sure Michael doesn't call the kids? I don't want them to hear the news from someone so..." She searched for a nice word.

WB held his hand up to stop her, understanding her intention. "I have it covered. Go do what you need to do. I'll be in the waiting room."

Having a plan helped Kitty stay focused and under control. Things were slowing down a bit in the ward, so she was able to get off work (besides, a panicking medical care professional was not good for patients, her boss decided). It didn't take long before she was dialing her home phone number on one of the pay phones in the hospital. She was hoping for Red to pick up, but it was Eric who answered. Of course; Red would be at the muffler shop this time of day.

"Hello?" Eric sounded happy, like he had been laughing. There were voices in the background. Kitty hated to be the bearer of bad news.

"Eric, sweetie, I need you to pick up your father and meet me at the hospital. Steven's been in a bit of an accident."

"Oh," Eric said knowingly, "did he fall of the water tower again?"

"No, he...he fell off a motorcycle."

"What? Where'd he get a motorcycle?" She could hear him saying something to the others in the room. "Is he okay?"

"He will be, I'm sure, but I haven't seen him yet. I'm going to call your father, but I think you two should come here."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. I'll start heading to the muffler shop."

Her call to Red didn't go as smoothly. She only told him enough to motivate him to come, since she didn't want his temper flaring too much. She was trying her best to keep everything calm. He was angry, of course, but that was his way of showing concern. "If I had a nickel for every time one of these dumbasses landed themselves in the hospital, I'd have enough to pay off the bill from the last time it happened."

* * *

Half an hour later, a doctor was asking for Steven Hyde's parents. Because of the added time it took to swing by the muffler shop, the others hadn't arrive yet. Kitty left instructions for Angie to update them when they arrived, and followed the doctor with WB into an exam room. Steven looked much the same as last time WB had seen him, with the addition of a neckbrace and sling, and the thick jacket and jeans having been traded in for a hospital gown. He didn't look much happier, either. Perhaps they hadn't given him any pain killers yet. He shot WB and Kitty an annoyed look as they entered, which WB decided had more to do with how he felt than who just entered.

Kitty looked startled, and after taking in the scene said to Steven, "how are you feeling, sweetie?"

The answer came with biting sarcasm. "Super."

"For someone who's been in a motorcycle accident, you're actually very lucky."

"Hate to see the unlucky guy," Steven slurred. "Jackie's gonna flip."

There were x-rays on the wall. WB wasn't a doctor, but even he could see the breaks. Soon the doctor was giving a full run down: broken clavicle, one broken rib, one very broken leg, concussion, whiplash, and road rash. It felt like a long list, and Steven didn't look like he heard a word of it. The doctor continued anyway. "We'd like to perform surgery to insert pins into the leg-"

"Surgery?" Kitty repeated.

Steven seemed much less concerned than she did. "You gonna knock me out?"

"Yes, we'll give you general anesthesia for the proceedure."

"Right on."

"Do you have any questions?

"Only one. When can you do it?"

"Now hold on just a minute," Kitty said, "I would like to hear more, wouldn't you, Steven?"

Steven turned to the doctor. "You gonna cut my leg off?"

"No."

"And you're gonna knock me out."

"Yes."

"Then we're cool."

"Alright. Assuming no appendices rupture in the meantime, we can take you back at five. I'll have a nurse come with some forms, and then we'll start prep." With that, the doctor left the room.

There was a grave moment of silence, before Steven spoke up. "WB, man, I'm going to need a few days off of work."

WB nodded. "Yeah. Just a few."

* * *

 **A/N: I originally intended for this chapter to go on even further, but it got a bit long and I thought this would be a good stopping place. So the good news is I already know exactly where to pick up! Thank you so much for reading, I'm really enjoying writing this one, so expect another update (with Red and the rest of the gang) soon!**


	3. The Waiting Game

**A/N: You guys are all so nice. Enjoy chapter three!**

* * *

Angie stood up as she saw Red Forman enter the waiting room; although she had been waiting for him, she didn't think she could miss him even if she tried. The man's presence filled the room as he stormed through. He didn't look at her, but the group of teens who came in after him noticed her and Kelso. She tapped her boyfriend's shoulder to alert him of their entrance. "Hey, everybody," Kelso greeted them.

"Move." Red walked past him and straight down the hallway.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to be polite!" Kelso called after him.

Jackie also kept walking, but Donna grabbed her wrist. Jackie pulled her arm back, sneering, "don't touch me, you sasquatch!"

Donna didn't look intimidated. "Red's pretty pissed, Jackie, I think you should probably wait a while."

"My boyfriend is hurt, _Donna_. He needs me."

Eric spoke next. "Yeah, but still...if you don't want to be in the wake of Red's wrath - and believe me, you don't - I wouldn't go back there yet."

Angie knew she was the odd one out in the group, but she decided to speak up. "A doctor came back here a little while ago asking for Steven's parents, so I don't even think you can get back there."

"Don't underestimate me," Jackie said.

"That's right," Fez chimed in, "Jackie is very sneaky. When you least expect it, she'll win. She always wins." He paused for a moment. "Why does Fez never win?" He lamented with a pout, then sat down next to Kelso.

"So, uh," Eric turned to Angie and Kelso, "what even happened?"

"You know how Hyde is no good at riding bikes?" Kelso asked.

Eric tilted his head. "The only time I remember seeing him ride one, we were, like, eight, and he rode into a bush."

"Imagine that, but with a motorcycle. Only instead of a bush, it's just the road."

"Yeah, but where did he-"

"Our dad," Angie supplied for the second time that day. "He bought Steven a motorcycle."

"It was beautiful," Kelso said. "Too bad he only got it, like, two blocks before he wrecked it."

"How was he?" Jackie asked.

"It was nasty. I mean, the road just shredded his jeans up like they were made out of paper. His leg looked like _bacon_." Kelso always did like to paint pictures with his words. "And he was totally out of it-"

Angie put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. She didn't want him scaring Jackie anymore than she clearly already was. "Michael, I think they get the point."

"So what's going on now?" Donna asked. "Have the doctors said anything?"

"We haven't heard anything," Angie said, studying Jackie's worried face as she answered.

Jackie slumped down into one of the empty chairs. "So now we're just waiting?"

"I have an idea," Donna offered. "We could go to the giftshop. Shopping always makes you feel better, right?"

"I guess..." Jackie sniffled.

"Great! Angie, want to come?"

Angie's eyes lit up. Did this mean she was a part of the gang now? "Sure!"

* * *

Red had learned that it was a motorcycle accident from Eric during the drive over from the muffler shop. Why hadn't Kitty told him? He figured it was probably so he wouldn't get worked up and put his heart in danger. He appreciated the concern, but trying to keep a man from being angry was like trying to keep Eric from running his mouth. It was a waste of time. Besides, he could have taken the news. He was calm, damn it!

There were a million questions on his mind, first of all how Steven was doing. He had a soft side that he didn't like to admit was there, a tiny fragment of his heart that wasn't all anger, and that part of him was very disturbed by the news. The kid was like a second son to him. Hell, Red had an easier time relating to him than he did with his own son. He was tougher than Eric. So surely he'd be fine, Red told himself.

A nurse directed him to the right room, where he found WB sitting in a chair in the corner. Kitty was flanking Steven's hospital bed. Red had to admit, the boy looked worse than he had hoped. "Hello, Steven-" His greeting was cut off by the kid vomiting into a basin. "Ah, geez," Red groaned, then tried to remember to act positive. "I mean, how are you doing, son?"

Steven stared blankly at him for a second, then lifted the basin. "Does this answer your question?"

"It's just an unfortunate symptom of concussions, nothing to worry about," Kitty, ever the nurse, said with a forced smile.

Steven was not placated. "Next person who asks how I'm doing better have drugs to give me to change my answer."

Red sighed and walked further into the room. "So how did this happen?"

"It's partially my fault," WB said. "I thought it'd be fun to get Steven a motorcycle."

" _You_ got him a _motorcycle?"_

"Well, he told me you all had one, and said he'd always wanted one of his own, so I thought it would be a nice gift."

Kitty looked confused. "Hold on. Red is the one who owns the motorcycle; we never let the kids drive it."

Red gestured to Steven. "Because we didn't want _this_ to happen." That and he didn't trust them with any of his expensive vehicles, but for the sake of making a point, he focused on safety.

This time it was WB who looked confused. "Steven said-"

Steven looked at a spot on the ground. "Yeah, about that. I told you about Red's, cause you were talking about the one you used to have. I never technically said I drove it. You kind of assumed I did, and I just kept my mouth shut."

Red stared at him incredulously. "And yet you got on the bike?"

Hyde shrugged. and immediatly groaned as it hurt his broken shoulder.

"Good," Red said. "You remember how that feels next time you think about doing something stupid."

"Red," Kitty said softly.

Red stared at her, and then looked away. He was being harsh, he knew. But this shouldn't have happened. "So what do the doctors say?"

"They want to do surgery!" Kitty said urgently, to which Steven nodded.

"What?" Red said. "Surgery on what?"

Steven pointed to his bandaged leg. Kitty proceeded to give Red a full run down of their meeting with the doctor, trying not to sound upset. While she was talking, he put his arm around his wife to comfort her.

"Five o'clock, huh? That's prett soon."

Steven scoffed. "Not soon enough," he mumbled.

"What's that?"

Kitty explained, "Steven is...oddly eager for them to start."

"More about what they're going to give me than being sliced and diced."

"Honey, it'll be soon - do you want to see any of the kids before they take you back? They all came with Red."

Steven exhaled. The kid really looked tired, Red thought. He probably just wanted to sleep. "I should probably see Jackie. She might kill me if I don't." He looked at Red. "Let me guess. She freaked out the whole ride here?"

Red nodded. "The girl has no off switch."

"Tell me about it."

WB stood up. "I'll go find her. Give you three a minute alone."

"Actually, when she comes, could you all-"

Kitty smiled. "of course, dear. Red, you heard the boy."

Red walked to the door, but turned around when he noticed she wasn't following him. "Kitty?"

Both Steven and Red looked at her expectantly. "Oh, he didn't mean me," she giggled. "Did you?"

"Yeah," Steven said, "sorry Mrs. Forman."

She took a step back. "No, I understand. You need to be alone with Jackie. Of course." She giggled again. "Just kick me out, that's fine. All I did was take you in and love you like my own child, but if you want me gone, I am gone!"

"Mrs. Forman..."

"I'm sorry, Steven, I just-" She looked at Red. "I'll try to stop by again before five, okay?"

"Sure thing. Thanks."

She followed Red out of the room, taking one final look back as they left.

* * *

Jackie held three cards in her hand, debating which was the best one. "Donna? Why aren't there any that say 'I'm sorry your boyfriend is hurt'?"

"Um..." Donna pretended to look puzzled. "Probably because normal people buy cards for the person who's hurt, and not themselves."

Jackie looked at Donna, annoyed. She deserved sympathy, too!

"I think that one's good." Donna pointed to the card on the left. So of course, Jackie opted for the card in the middle. She was in the check out line (with flowers for herself, a teddy bear that was also mostly for herself, because she knew there was no way her puddin' pop would accept it, and a card for Steven) when Eric approached.

"Hey Jackie, my mom says Hyde wants to see you. Apparently they're doing surgery on his leg-" He didn't get a chance to finish. Jackie shoved her collection of gift shop items into Donna's arms and bolted. She came back quickly though, and pointed at Eric.

"What room?"

* * *

 **A/N: Once again, each scene ends up being longer than originally anticipated. There will be more Red+Kitty/WB connflict soon. Next chapter will include the conversation with Jackie and a post-op, drugged up talk with the gang. So that'll be fun. Thank you so much for reading! Stay tuned for more to come soon!**


	4. (Food) Fight

**A/N: Hi guys! Thank you so mch for your continued support. So in this chapter, we have angst, more angst, and then we tone the angst way back. Next chapter will be quite light, and I'm already having fun planning it. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"Hey, doll." Hyde smiled at his girlfriend as he saw her in the doorway.

"Oh, Steven..."

"I look like crap, huh?"

Jackie sighed, walked to the bed, and leaned down to kiss him, but he pursed his lips. "Uh...I don't think you want to do that," he said.

She pulled away. "Why not?"

"Cause I've puked like three times today."

Jackie crinkled her nose, and settled for kissing his forehead. "So how are you?"

He muttered something under his breath. She raised her eyebrows, and he continued, "I have three people waiting to give me a parent lecture. Have you ever been triple lectured?"

"They're worried about you, Steven. You almost died."

"That's funny, I don't remember seeing a bright light." He looked at her as if to say _what are you smoking._ "I did not almost die."

"Look at you!"

"Whatever."

Jackie, unamused, crossed her arms. "Can you drop the zen thing for a minute?"

He sighed. "Jackie-"

"No, really. I know you've got your 'I'm too cool to care' thing going on, but sometimes I don't know when you're putting on an act, and when you're actually not bothered."

"You think nothing bothers me?"

"You tell me."

"Uh, well, I wrecked the nicest thing anyone's ever given me ten minutes after getting it, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to hear the end of this from anybody, and I actually feel crappy enough that I'm just waiting to be knocked out so I don't have to deal with it. So to answer your question, no, I don't feel totally zen about this. There, you happy?"

She put her hand over her heart. It was so hard to get him to talk, she wasn't expecting him to give a full answer. "You used the word 'feel.' Twice! Oh my god, Steven," she took his free hand, "you do have feelings."

He rolled his eyes, and quickly changed the subject. "I hope the bike's not totaled."

"WB won't be mad about that. Money is no object to rich people, and I would know. Especially in comparison to people." She was sure WB would rather the bike be wrecked beyond repair than his son. Anyone would.

"Yeah, but if it's totaled, I can't ride it again."

"You want to ride it again? What are you, stupid?"

"Ask Red, he'll tell you," he deadpanned. "Come on, Jackie. I want to be able to say I've driven it at least once without screwing it up."

She looked at the clock on the wall. "We can argue about this later."

"Or never." He smirked.

"What part of no arguing don't you understand?" She tried to sound serious, but couldn't help smiling. "Are you worried?"

"About what?"

"Your leg, silly."

"No. Why, do you think I should be?"

"No, Puddin' Pop, you'll be fine." She squeezed his hand. _She_ was worried, but she didn't want him to be. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

Suddenly there was a third voice in the room. "Aww," Kitty cooed, "that is so sweet!"

Hyde lowered his head and covered his eyes.

"Oh, don't look so embarassed, you two are adorable." The older women grinned. "Anyways, I told you I'd stop by, so here I am! Sorry I was gone for so long. I hope you didn't miss me too much!"

Just then, the doctor returned with a nurse in tow. He smiled genially. "We're ready for you."

Both women looked at Hyde, who took a deep breath. "Cool."

* * *

With the surgery started, the kids went off to get food in the cafeteria, and the three adults peeled off to have a private conversation.

"What the hell were you doing, buying the kid a motorcycle?"

"Red just means we wish you had talked with us first," said Kitty.

WB frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't think it was necessary to."

"Oh yeah?" Red shifted his weight, standing tall to look intimidating (not that that took much effort). "And why's that?"

"I just mean-" WB thought about how to word his statement, "it didn't cross my mind. I mean, Steven is over eighteen."

"So what, you think he's an adult?"

WB was trying to be patient, but he felt like he was on trial. "What can I say, I just thought it'd be a nice gesture. You should have seen how his face lit up when he saw it."

"Oh, his face lit up," Red said with a false grin. "You hear that, Kitty? His face lit up. A thirteen year old's face would light up if you gave them beer, but that doesn't mean you should."

"Look, I understand that you're angry-"

"Oh, I'm angry, alright."

"I understand that, but you have know I had no idea this would happen. I thought he had driven one before. Believe me, I would never want anything bad to happen to him." He dared not say _he's my son_ , because he knew that Red was the boy's primary father figure throughout most of his life.

Kitty put her hand on her husband's shoulder. "See, honey, we all just want what's best for Steven."

Red sighed. "You're lucky he's alright," he said, and this time the edge was gone from his voice.

Kitty clasped her hands together. "You know, one day I'll bet we all look back on this and laugh. Well - well, maybe not laugh, but...my point is, it will turn out alright." It had better turn out alright, WB thought, or his head was on the chopping block. To his surprise, Red nodded solemnly. "So," Kitty continued, "who wants dinner?" She raised her own hand. Neither man followed her lead. "They serve three flavors of ice cream now!" If only ice cream was the solution to every problem.

WB looked at Red, who glared back before finally relenting.

"Fine."

* * *

"Food fight!" Kelso used his plastic spoon to flick peas at Fez.

"You son of a bitch!" Fez picked up each pea and threw them back.

Angie smiled. "Burn!"

"No, Angie, you're still not getting it." Kelso looked at her sympathetically. "But keep practicing, you'll get there."

Angie looked around. "Hey Fez, I dare you to ask out that nurse." She pointed at a blonde who looked to be about her own age.

Fez scooted his chair back and stood up. "Oh, you do not have to dare me." All eyes were on him as he marched over to the young woman. "Excuse me, pretty lady."

"Yes, can I help you?"

Fez waggled his eyebrows. "Oh, you can help me alright. Do you give sponge baths?"

The woman looked awkward. "To patients...yeah?"

"Oh wait, no, I have a better one. I would like some oxygen, please." He leaned in. "Because you take my breath away."

"Yikes. That's the cheesiest line I've heard."

"Well, Wisconson is known for its cheese." He wasn't giving up.

The girl held up her hand, displaying a diamond ring. "I'm engaged, dude."

Angie beamed. "Burn!" For once, her declaration earned her a high five from Kelso, and even Donna.

Kelso gave her a thumbs up. "Now you're getting it."

The gang passed the time with burns and shenanigans, managing to forget the tension in the air for a few moments. Finally, Kitty came to tell them that they could see Hyde. "About time," Kelso said as they walked to the room, "it's been like a hundred million hours." He was probably the least nervous of the gang as they entered the room. Having seen the actual crash, he was pretty sure this would be a relief in comparison. That was pretty scary, not that he'd admit that to his friends. "Oh, hey, you got your neckbrace back!"He pointed at Hyde, remembering how his friend had been saddled with the same type of neckbrace last time he fell off the water tower.

Hyde looked half asleep when he saw Kelso, Angie, Donna, Eric, Fez, and Jackie. "Whoa, it's a party."He sounded as tired as he looked. His enunciation had been slack since he hit his head earlier, but now he sounded entirely groggy. "Hey, guys."

Jackie quickly took up place next to him.

"Do me a favor and bring me a toothbrush tomorrow," he said quietly to her, "so I can kiss you." Jackie kissed him anyways, earning a lopsided smile from her boyfriend.

"Get a room," Fez said.

"This is my room. You get a room. Hey Kelso." Hyde rubbed his eyes. "When I crashed, did it at least look bad-friggin-ass?"

Kelso hadn't seen the exact moment that the motorcycle went over, but decided to tell Hyde what he wanted to hear. "Yeah, buddy, it looked totally badass."

"Cool."

Angie spoke next. "So how long do you think they'll keep you?"

"You know what's the worst part of this?" Hyde asked, ignoring the question as if he hadn't heard it.

"Getting hurt's not the worst part?" Donna said.

"Nah." Hyde spoke with his eyes closed. "I barely remember riding the thing."

"You didn't get very far," Angie said.

"Like, I remember leaving the parking lot, and driving past that red house, but that's it."

Angie looked at Kelso, then back at her brother. "That was a couple of minutes before you crashed."

"I don't remember crashing it."

Kelso's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. "Oh my god, dude. Do you have amnesia?" He sounded almost excited. "Hyde, what's your name?"

"Hyde, you moron. I just don't remember crashing it. I was driving past the red house, then I was on the street and WB was talking to me."

Donna frowned. "Uh, that sounds like a problem."

"Doc says it's normal concussion stuff. Whatever. Just thought it was weird. Like, I'm only ever gonna remember riding it for like five minutes."

"Why would you want to remember crashing it?"

"Cause it looked badass," he slurred. They'd definitely given him something.

"Right..." Eric said. He looked at the others. "You sound pretty tired, man. We should probably let you sleep."

Hyde mumbled something unintelligable as a response.

"Okay, yeah," Eric laughed. "You need sleep."

"Mm."

"See you tomorrow, buddy. Night."

* * *

 **A/N: And there we have it! Next chapter is going to be a lot of fun, I think. I'm going to have a lot of fun writing it, at least, so I hope you like it as well. But first, I hope you enjoyed the chapter you just read! Thanks for checking it out, leave a review if you like! Until next time, guys. See ya!**


	5. Beginner's Luck

**A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your reviews last chapter! As a side note, I just wanted to say in case any of you happen to be HR readers, I am going to update that one too. I actually have a chapter written, I'm just waiting to post it until I've figured out how to transition it into the next story arc. Don't wanna start up again and then immediatly leave you hanging. But I'm working on it! Anyways, back to Along For the Ride. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

The next morning, Kitty and Eric were picking up food from Fatso Burger (at the latter's request) before heading to the hospital.

"Now, this is nice," Kitty said. "When was the last time we spent time together?"

"At breakfast? You know, that thing three hours ago where we all sat and talked while we ate waffles?" _His mom always had to make an occasion out of every moment, didn't she?_ He threw away his trash and then returned to the table for the remaning to-go bag and cup. He'd ordered a burger and soda for Hyde, figuring it would be better than hospital food. Besides, he was craving french fries.

"Well, good morning to your porky mouth!"

He held open the door for his mother as they left the fast food restaurant. "I see you every day, mom. We spend time together."

"I just think it's nice to spend some quality time together outside of the house, that's all," she said. This was giving Eric a major sense of deja vu. His mom never thought they spent enough time together, which he chalked up to her fear of an impending empty nest. "You just never know how many opportunities you have to do things like this with someone.

Eric sighed as they got into the car. "Mom, is this about yesterday? About Hyde?"

"We're just very lucky to have each other, that's all I'm saying."

* * *

Hyde was already awake when they arrived, jabbing at a button he held in his hand. "Hey." He seemed more focused on the device than his new visitors. "Mrs. Forman, I think this nurse call button thing is broken. I've been pressing it and nobody's come. It just beeps sometimes."

Kitty tilted her head. "Sweetheart, that's...that's an analgesic pump, for pain management. Not a call button."

"Huh." He stared at the button in his hand. "That explains a lot." He decided to let it go, and turned his attention to his friend. "What you got there, Forman?"

"One Fatso burger and a large cola." He put the bag on the small table that extended over the bed.

Hyde eagerly dug into the bag. "Thanks, man. All they gave me this morning was jello, and something that I think was oatmeal but might have been alive. The food here sucks." He suddenly remembered that one of his visitors worked at this hospital. "No offense, Mrs. Forman."

"None taken. You two boys have fun, alright? I've got to get ready for my shift." She excused herself and left.

"Speaking of fun," Eric pulled something out of his pocket, "I brought a deck of cards."

Hyde responded with the same feigned excitable kid voice he often used. "A deck of cards? Oh boy!" He did agree to play Go Fish, though, and in less than ten minutes had aquired four pairs. He kept the pairs face down on the table, and occasionally put down the cards in hand to eat or drink. "I need another arm, man," he said as he put down the burger. "Got any twos?"

"Go fish."

Hyde smiled after he glanced at his new card.

"You have a terrible poker face."

"Don't need one." He put another four cards down on the table.

"Oh, come on!" Eric reacher over and flipped each four-of-a-kind pair of cards Hyde had laid down. "Dude, none of these match." He looked through the cards one by one. "Literally none of these match."

"You never said they had to match," Hyde said with a smirk.

"It's Go Fish!"

"Anybody ever tell you you're a sore loser, Forman?"

Forman looked incredulous. "I'm not a sore loser. You weren't playing the game. You cheated."

"Sounds like sore loser talk to me."

"I give up."

Hyde smiled and laid down the rest of his cards. "And I win. You're right. That was fun." He resumed eating his burger, and Forman started putting away the cards. "We should play poker later," he said.

"Why, so you can ignore all the rules and take all my money?"

"Yeah. Sounds like a good time to me."

"I-" Forman sounded like he was about to argue, then just shrugged. "Sure. We can do whatever you want."

Hyde looked at him quizzically. Forman was being nice. He said that because he pitied him. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"The whole-" he searched for the words, "-that thing where you're nice."

"Uh...okay. I'm a little confused."

"The pity thing. Don't say 'we can do whatever you want' like some gesture of...of..."

"We're just talking about card games, Hyde."

"Yeah, whatever." He jabbed the button again. "At least I can win at a kid's game."

"I can - you cheated!"

Hyde relaxed a bit. He was used to banter. He wasn't sure what to do with concern or pity. "WB asked me yesterday if someone should call Edna," surprised with himself for bringing this up.

Forman looked just as surprised. "You didn't, did you?"

"No, I told him don't bother." Hyde had been in this hospital dozens of times (mostly thanks to the water tower), and he'd never thought to notify Edna. Why should he? She left him. He didn't have a number or address to reach her at, and he was pretty sure she left it that way for a reason. He was also pretty sure he didn't want her here, anyway. "Three parents is enough."

Forman chuckled. "Yeah. Heard WB's swinging by later."

"You did?" He wondered if WB had told him this himself. "I don't remember half of what anyone said to me yesterday."

"You were pretty out of it."

"No kidding."

"Are you back to planet Earth today?"

"Planet Earth is kind of spinny. Not sure I like it. Hey, how about when I get out of here we celebrate in the circle?" Hyde had no idea when that would be, but there was no harm in planning ahead. He was already longing for this whole ordeal to be over.

Forman nodded.

"Shoulda gone to Disney world," Hyde mumbled.

"What?"

"What?"

Forman looked at him strangely. "But seriously, man, how are-"

"If you ask me how I feel I'm going to punch you." Yesterday, he was so focused on being knocked out that he hadn't thought about what would happen after the anaesthsia wore off. Much to his disappointment, he felt largely the same as beforehand, if drowsier.

"Ooh, I'm real scared. Coming from the guy with his good arm in a sling."

Hyde looked around, and his eyes landed on the pack of cards. He picked it up and aimed it at Forman, but put it down with a smirk after it made Forman duck. When Forman stood up again, Hyde tossed it, not very hard because he was mostly joking around, and entirely missed. It bounced against the wall with a light thud.

"Were you even trying to hit me?" Forman grinned victoriously.

Hyde gave a one-shouldered shrug. "I told you the world was spinny."

Eric held up his hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Hyde scoffed, and held up his middle finger. "How many am I holding up?" He was dizzy, not blind. "Hey, come here."

Forman walked next to the bed, standing to Hyde's right.

"Other side, man."

His friend reluctantly followed his orders. Hyde punched him lightly - well, not punched so much as grazed Forman's arm, then recoiled as his busted rib took the momentum as a cue to hurt more. _Great._

"What was that for?" Forman asked. "I didn't ask how you are."

"You were thinking it," he replied, voice strained.

Forman rolled his eyes. "You probably shouldn't...punch things. You know, take it easy for a while." He raised an eyebrow at Hyde.

"You should shut the hell up." It was hard to be intimidating while writhing in pain in a polka dotted hospital gown. He was supposed to be cool, but the situation was not cooperating with that idea.

A nurse decided to come in at that moment, and seemed to recognize Forman, probably thanks to Kitty. "Eric! How are you?"

"Oh, uh..." Forman clearly knew he was supposed to know this woman, and was trying not to let on that he didn't remember her. "Great..."

"Your mom tells me you're writing movies now. How's that going?"

"Documentaries, actually. That was...yeah, I'm looking into other things now."

"What sort of things?"

"Um..." Forman looked around the room. His eyes landed on the pack of cards. "Magic?"

"Oh, you have to show me a trick," the nurse said.

Hyde was so excited, he forgot about being hurt. This was too good to be true. "Show her the one you showed me," he said, congratulating himself for making this moment worse for his friend.

Forman laughed awkwardly. "I don't think that's really necessary."

"Come on, man, don't be modest," Hyde said, trying his best to keep a straight face, and knowing that he would pay for this later as Forman shot back a death glare.

"You know what, fine. Pick a card, any card." He splayed the cards, and the nurse picked one. Forman had her put it back in the deck, shuffled the cards, and picked one at random. "Is this your card?"

The nurse looked amazed. "Yes, it is. How did you do that?"

Forman did a double take. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Yes, a two of clubs, that was my card."

"Oh my god. I did it." He turned to Hyde. "In your face! What do you have to say to that, Hyde?"

The only answer he got was coughing, and a thumbs up.

"Oh, he's just doing that because he doesn't want to admit that I did something cool."

"You're the best magician who ever lived," Hyde said in between coughs, "you should be in Vegas. Really top notch work." He rubbed the side of his chest with the broken rib.

"Do you want an ice pack, honey?" the nurse asked.

Forman answered for him. "Yes." This time it was Hyde who gave the death glare.

The nurse left, and returned with the promise ice pack. She talked to her patient for a minute, and double checked that everything was fine. While she was working, she kept up a conversation with Forman about his "magic career." He was in too deep now. He was just listing all of the made up tricks he supposedly knew when Jackie came in, holding all of the things she had picked out at the gift shop yesterday.

"Jackie," Forman started, "I just did the coolest thing-"

"Yeah, that's great, Eric," she said flatly. "Steven! I brought you presents!"

"Cool."

The nurse was about to leave when she called something to the nurses table, then turned back to Forman. "Eric, would you show Jeanette and Carey some of your tricks?"

"Sure, he will," Hyde said, deciding that if Forman could answer for him, he could return the favor.

"I guess I have no choice," Forman said with a forced smile, and was reluctantly led away to embarass himself in front of his mom's coworkers.

Jackie presented each item in his bag to Hyde, placing the bear on the side table and opening the card envelope for him since he was busy with the ice pack. "Want me to read it to you?"

"No, I'll read it later." Seeing Jackie's pout, he figured he should explain. "You know, after visitor hours, if it's like the middle of the night and no one's here."

"Why?"

God, she was going to make him talk feelings again. "In case I miss you or something."

Jackie clearly liked this answer. "Aw, in case you get lonely? That is so cute." she put the card on the table.

"I don't get lonely." Hyde stated, and then patted the side of his bed. "Sit with me." Yeah, that might have undermined his previous statement just a bit.

she answered, "I don't know if there's enough room."

"You're small. We'll deal."

She carefully helped him slide over a couple inches, and joined him on the bed. "It's small," she said.

"Yup."

"And not very comfortable."

"Nope."

A comfortable silence fell around them as they watched Forman through the window desperately trying to repeat his dumb luck.

"Think I might sleep for a while," Hyde said, eyes still on the magic show. He hadn't slept well thanks to various medical personal constantly coming and going, and he was pretty sure all the not-a-call-button did was make him tired. He felt bad sleeping since Jackie had just come to see him, though, and there was no telling when WB would join them.

"Go ahead, puddin'. I'll be here when you wake up."

 **A/N: There you have it! Next chapter will pick up directly where this one left off, so we'll see more Hyde/Jackie, some WB, and learn the outcome of Eric's magic tricks, and eventually learn what Jackie's card says. Please leave a review if you like, reading your guys' thoughts always gives me new ideas for what's coming up! Thank you so much for reading. Until next time!**


	6. Left Unsaid

**A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know if there's anything you really want to see in the upcoming chapters!**

* * *

Hyde awoke with a start, and immediatly noticed that Jackie was no longer besides him. In his dream, he'd been riding the motorcycle on an ultra-wavy road, which was ebbing and flowing almost like ocean waves. But they were too steep, and flowing too fast. The road toppled and collapsed, leaving him drowning an asphalt. It freaked him out, although he wasn't sure why; it was a pretty mundane dream in his book, and he couldn't remember the actual crash, so it wasn't like he could dream about the memory. He wasn't sure how to explain it, and didn't plan to give it any attention now that he was awake. There was no way he could tell Jackie, who would make a big deal out of it, but it would've been better if she was still besides him. Hadn't she said she would be there?

"Morning." Forman looked up from the comic book he was reading.

Hyde squinted against the lights in the room. _You'd think somebody would have the decency to dim them while a guy slept._ "Is it morning already?" It had been early afternoon when he fell asleep. If he'd slept through the whole day, he might have to admit some concern.

Forman looked at a clock on the wall. "It's ten till three. You were out for two hours, tops."

"Where's Jackie?"

"She went for some food. We didn't think you were waking up anytime soon. Man, you missed what was possibly the most awkward moment of my life. Definite top ten, at least."

"You messed up the magic tricks, yeah. Jackie's coming back, right?"

Forman gave him a look he couldn't quite place. "Yes and yes. How'd you know I messed up the magic trick?"

"You pulled that trick out of your ass, man, no way you could replicate it."

"It was cool, though, right? I mean, that sort of made it cooler. I had no idea what I was doing. You and I know that. But here this nurse thinks I'm an actual magician."

"Nothing says cool like magicians," Hyde said sarcastically.

"Okay, yeah. But hear me out. There are fifty two cards. I just happened to pick the right one. That's kind of like magic."

"Yeah, and fairies and mermaids are real. Get to the part where you make an ass of yourself."

"You can't rush a story teller," Forman said. "So Margaret-"

"Who's Margaret?"

"The nurse. I found out her name from my mom. Anyways, she tells Jeanette and Carey how amazing and talented I am." Forman popped his collar smugly, and all Hyde could think was how much of a gossip girl he sounded like, spouting off the names of his new best friends, the nurses. "And Jeanette tells me that Peter told her that Dewey the clown from pediatrics quit." Yep, definitely a gossip girl. He could picture Forman telling this story while Fez did his hair at the salon. "You can see where this is going, right?"

"What?" Hyde was lost in his mental image.

"They needed someone to fill in for the clown in pediatrics, and told me I should do it, and brought me down there. Like, there wasn't even an audition. They just put me right in front of the kids and guess what? I blew it. After the fourth card, a kid booed me."

"I can't do this 'cause of the sling, but just imagine me clapping slowly."

"Excuse me." Both boys turned as the doctor entered the room. "I just wanted to see how you're feeling and go over a couple of things."

"Uh oh," Forman said, "don't ask him how he's feeling; he might punch you."

"Get lost, Forman." He had meant it as an instruction and not a comeback, but Forman didn't seem to get that, so he said "would you kindly vacate the premises?"

"Oh! Yeah. Sorry, I'll just - don't mind me." Forman headed out, and Hyde gave his full attention to the doctor.

"So...what's up?"

* * *

When Jackie returned from her late lunch, she found Eric talking to Mrs. Forman at the nurses station. Confused, she looked at Steven's room.

"Dr. Andrews is talking to him," Kitty said, noticing the girl.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"No, no," Kitty assured, "he probably just wants to see how he's doing."

Several minutes later, the doctor left, and Jackie, Eric, and Kitty went into the room.

"What did he say, honey?" Kitty wasted no time.

"He wants to keep me here for a _week_ ," Steven said, supremely annoyed. Jackie made a mental note to direct at least one of her friends to come every day. "And then six weeks for the rib and shoulder, and three months for that." He pointed at his leg in accusation.

"Bet you don't want to ride that motorcycle every again, huh?" Jackie asked.

Kitty looked between the members of the couple. "You still want to ride the motorcycle?"

Hyde responded, without a drop of zen, "I'm riding the motorcycle!" Then he took a deep breath. Jackie wondered if at this point, his desire to ride it wasn't out of spite for his current state. She was certain, though, that he couldn't do anything about the issue for several months at least.

"I don't know why it has to be week. I'm fine."

"You're fine, really?" Jackie smiled at him, then sang, "if you're fine and you know it clap your hands!"

There was a pause, and it certainly wasn't filled with clapping. "...Touche."

"Well, you know," Kitty interjected, "I think we should all look on the bright side. A week really isn't that long, and I'll be here most days so you won't get lonely, and one day this will all be behind us."

"Yeah." Steven hesitated before speaking, which Jackie vowed to investigate later.

Suddenly a thought hit her. "Are you going to let people sign your cast? Because as your girlfriend, I get first dibs."

"Sure. As long as Kelso doesn't get to draw anything, I don't care what you guys do with it."

"Great!"

Kitty found a felt tip pen before returning to work, and Jackie started braistorming. Right on the knee she drew a giant heart, and wrote "J + H"in the center, then handed the pen to Eric, who simply wrote "Eric was here."

* * *

"I'm surprised to see your girlfriend isn't here keeping you company."

The sound of his voice got Steven to notice WB. "She was. She'll be back, I think. Went to take Forman home, 'cause Mrs. Forman has to stay 'til late tonight..." he trailed off. "How are you?"

"I think I'm the one who should be asking you that."

"Yeah, everyone seems to think that." He scratched his head. "It's whatever. You know. I'm actually glad you're here, man. I, uh, wanted to talk to you about yesterday."

This took WB off guard. "Of course."

"Wanted to tell you I'm sorry."

This entirely shocked the man. "For what?"

Steven looked confused. "That I cost you all that money."

"Steven, I'm rich." On second thought, that might have come across more boastful than he intended. "I don't care about the money. I could get you another motorcycle."

He thought he could see a fleeting trace of a smile on the boy's face. "You don't have to do that, man."

"I might get you something else, or some lessons first-"

"No, it's cool. You don't have to buy me stuff. Unless you need something smashed." He said it with a smirk, but WB wasn't sure if it was a casual remark, or a forced joke.

"I'm not mad. You don't have to be sorry."

"Yeah, I do. I messed up."

WB sighed. "It's really okay."

"Okay." Steven averted his eyes.

"It's been a long time since I had a kid in the hospital. The last time, Angie was nine. She was pretending to be a dancer and knocked a vase off of a shelf. She cut her hands trying to pick up the pieces and had to get three stitches."

"Three, wow. That's pretty intense." He was being sarcastic, but he was smiling as he spoke.

"You probably have her beat."

"Yeah, I think so," the kid said. "I was thinking: last time I was here was how Mrs. Forman found out you were my dad."

"Right. Do you kids really fall of the water tower that often?"

"It's practically tradition."

The older man shook his head. "I'm sure none of you are ever drunk when that happens," he joked lightly.

"Wouldn't dream of it. Tell you what, though, I could totally go for a beer right now."

"I bet you could." He could, too. He wanted to say _you scared the hell out of me yesterday,_ but decided against giving Steven another thing to apologize for. He looked around the room for anything else to comment on, and his eyes landed on a tray of food on the side table. "I know I haven't really been a father to you, but the dad in me feels like I should say something about eating your vegetables."

"A, you're in the top two, so congrats. B, I'm not hungry, but even if I was, I don't think those count as vegetables. My compliments to the chef - takes a lot of talent to make everything taste like sand." He poked the food with a fork. "If I didn't already feel like puking, I think this stuff would do the job."

WB raised his eyebrows. "You're still throwing up?"

"Nah, not since last night. Still feel like it, though. These drugs aren't all they're cracked up to be, man. You know, you hear about people who wreck motorcycles, or cars getting their legs ripped off, or their skulls busted in, but no one ever tells you about the puking." He put the fork down. "We gotta change the subject, or I'm gonna puke again."

WB frowned, but quickly abandoned his look of pity at the kid before it could be noticed. "Did Jackie buy you that?" He gestured to the teddy bear.

Steven said, "yeah, she's got this thing about stuffed animals. I don't get it, but whatever makes her happy." WB knew the girl had been worried sick yesterday, moreso than any of the other young adults.

"I think you too are good together."

"I don't know why the hell it works, but it does. I do know you don't mess with a good thing."

"You balance each other out."

Steven gave a one shouldered shrug. The older man figured he was probably embarassing the younger, but hey - that's what dads were for. Their relationship would never be like his and Angie's, nor Steven and Red's, but maybe one day it would be close enough that the label would feel deserved.

"Angie said to tell you she missed you at work today." He was glad his two kids were developing a relationship with each other, and had found it sweet when his daughter told him this.

Steven looked zoned out. "I wonder what the hell made me crash."

"You didn't have any experience."

He was still staring off into space. "Was there something in the road?"

"I couldn't tell you. I was pretty preoccupied."

He blinked a few times, and WB wished he could read his mind. He tilted his head like something occured to him, but when he looked at WB all he said was "how's Angie liking the new car?"

* * *

 **A/N: Gonna cut it off there. Next chapter will have Jackie's card finally read, some Red, Jackie learning why Hyde hesitated, and the readers learning what Hyde was thinking in that last line. Maybe Kelso and another pal for some laughs. Btw, don't worry, not every day of the week in the hospital is going to take multiple or even a full chapter, and there will be chapters pretty soon that take place after the hospital. So in short? There will be some slight time skips. Anyways, I think I've said enough, so I will end by saying thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all have a lovely day!**


	7. Heart Eyes

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for your incredible reviews! I'm so glad you guys like this story so much. Without further ado...**

* * *

It was four in the morning, and Hyde was awake. He'd been trying to fall back asleep for half an hour, to no avail. At night, the hospital seemed otherworldly, full of quiet beeping and soft, ambient light. Somewhere down the hall, a girl was crying.

He grabbed the card. The front cover was yellow with a picture of a _grasshopper_ \- how she managed to find a card with that on it, he'd never know. "I'm _hopping_ you feel better soon!" It read. Hyde smiled and shook his head. Inside, Jackie had doodled hearts all over the left half. On the right half, she'd written a message in cursive:

 _Dear Steven,_

 _Don't you ever scare me like that again. I mean it. I love you way too much to do this again. Of course, if you get sick or something (ew, let's hope not), I'll be there, but no more dangerous motorcycles. Maybe no more water tower? Steven, I hate to tell you this, but I think you might be becoming accident prone._ (Here she had drawn a surprised face.) _I love you to bits, but I want you in one piece, okay? I'm sorry you're hurt, and I hope you feel better ASAP. I'll take care of you until you are._ (And here she had drawn a smiley face).

 _Love, Jackie_

He was glad no one was around to see how much it made him smile. He'd thank Jackie tomorrow. For now, it was time to count sheep (or maybe to count grasshoppers).

* * *

Red had prepared an entire speech for this visit. He'd started thinking of it two nights ago, the night of the accident and surgery, when he'd had to listen to his wife cry (a fact he intended to bring up in the speech). Then when he'd arrived at the hospital this morning, he'd been told he was there too early, that Steven was sleeping, and he'd have to wait - something he was also willing to complain about in the speech. He was ready to lecture the hell out of the kid, and yet...when he saw how pathetic Steven looked, he couldn't bring himself to rant right away. Was he becoming soft?

"Steven."

"Hey, Red," Steven greeted him. "Alright, I'm ready." He made a sweeping gesture. "Proceed."

"With what?"

"Your lecture. Aren't you going to lecture me or something?"

Damn. For a dumbass, the boy was too smart. Well, if he was expecting a lecture, Red was in no position to let him down. "You bet your ass I am. First of all-"

"What the hell was I thinking?"

Too damn smart. "Hey. I ask the questions, pal."

"My bad."

"Right then." Red cleared his throat. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't. It was dumb," he replied, sounding like an actor very confident in his lines.

It was going to be hard for Red to deliver his speech when Steven was doing half of the work for him. "But really, I want to know. What possessed you to do something so stupid." Unsaid: _you're supposed to be one of the smart ones._

"Red, I know you didn't get to see the bike, but it was kickass. Would you have turned it down if you were me?"

"This isn't about me, Steven." This anger-driven, eye-opening speech was proving harder than Red had anticipated. "This is about you, and how you made a decision so stupid it almost cost you your life, and how I had to listen to my wife cry about it." He knew that would get to the boy.

Steven sighed. "I made her cry?"

Red knew he shouldn't take pride in the effect he knew that statement made, he knew it was wrong, and yet, he couldn't help being satisfied that Steven was actually paying attention now. "That's right."

"Aw, man..." Steven trailed off and looked to the side, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think of how to respond. "I don't-" he cut himself off.

Red urged him to finish his thought. "You don't...?" But Steven just mimed zipping his lips shut. "No, no, none of that. What?"

"I know what you're going to say. So I'm not gonna say it."

"You don't know everything I'm going to say before I say it."

"Fine. I was going to say 'I don't get why everyone's so freaked,' and then you would say..."

"Because you almost got yourself killed, damn it!"

"No, I didn't." He sounded frustrated. "Look, this stuff sucks, but none of it was life threatening."

Red looked at him incredulously. Were they really arguing this point? Red wondered if he should have Kitty come in here and talk medicine with him, to tell him how dangerous it all was. "You're a dumbass, you know that?"

"Fine." He sounded resigned.

"You're lucky something worse didn't happen."

"You know, I've heard that a couple times now."

"Good. Let that sink in."

"If motorcycles are so dangerous, why'd you ever ride one?" Ah, he was challenging Red. Not a wise move.

"You fight in a war, and then come talk to me about danger." After serving in the army, Red's idea of danger was redefined. Besides, he's earned the right to make his own decisions. "You're just a _kid_ , Steven."

"I'm not a kid anymore, man. Not legally. I'm done with school, I manage a store-"

Red sighed. Kitty was supposed to be the one who had a hard time admitting the kids were growing up. "Okay, you're not a kid. But if you want to be a man-"

"-Act like one, yeah, I got it. I'll put 'make better decisions' on my to-do list."

Red tilted his head. "How do you do that?"

"It's not my first Red Forman lecture."

"It won't be your last, either."

"I know." He smirked. "Are we done for now?"

"For now. Until next time you do something stupid."

"Think I'm gonna wait 'til I'm done paying for this one."

"Atta boy." Red looked at his watch. "I've got to go open the muffler shop. I told Eric to do it, but I don't trust him not to burn to place down. Stay out of trouble, will you?"

Steven gave him a thumbs up. "I'll do my best. Thanks, Red."

Red wasn't sure what exactly he was being thanked for, but he nodded. "You're welcome."

* * *

Donna and Jackie had come to bring Hyde lunch, but also so Jackie could do some digging. She'd told Donna about Hyde hesitating after something Kitty said yesterday. Donna was pretty sure Jackie was making a big deal out of nothing, but she wasn't surprised. Jackie had a tendency to read too much into things.

"I made the sandwich myself!" Jackie proudly proclaimed as she emptied the bag she'd packed food in.

Hyde looked in mock horror at Donna, mouthing the word _help_. Donna laughed.

Jackie pouted. "Oh, knock it off. I can make a sandwich. They're way easier than baking."

"Here's hoping." He took a bite, and made a disgusted face as he chewed, then suddenly stopped pretending. "Nah, it's fine." He smirked, pleased with himself for riling Jackie up.

"So Steven..." Donna could tell by Jackie's tone that she was preparing to investigate. "Yesterday when Mrs. Forman was talking, she said 'one day this will all be behind us,' and you said 'yeah.'"

Hyde said, "I know, I was there."

"But you _hesitated_."

"No, I didn't"

"Yes, you did."

"Don't think so."

"Admit that you did or I'll pinch you."

Donna rolled her eyes. The two sounded like kids.

"You're not going to pinch me," he said skeptically.

"Watch me," Jackie replied. Donna knew as well as Hyde that she was bluffing. At least she hoped her best friend wouldn't sink so low as to pinch a guy laying in a hospital bed.

"Jackie," Donna said, "if he did hesitate, maybe he was just, like distracted or something. I hear head injuries mess you up for a while." She looked at Hyde for confirmation.

"I'm all kinds of messed up," he agreed.

Jackie narrowed her eyes. "Okay...I'm going to go to the bathroom to fix my makeup. And the lighting in there in really bad, so it's going to take a while." She stared at them both as she walked out of the room.

"She's crazy," Donna said.

"Oh yeah." He craned his neck as much as the brace would allow to look down the hall. "Is she gone?"

"Yup."

"Cool." He looked at Donna. "I was totally hesitating."

"So Jackie's not crazy?"

"She's definitely nuts. But she's not wrong."

"Okay, so what was it about?"

Hyde took a deep breath. "I'll tell you, but don't go blabbing to Jackie about it."

"Ooh, now this is getting interesting!"

"I mean it, Pinciotti."

"Fine, I swear. Now tell me."

Hyde looked out the door, double checking that Jackie wasn't lurking. "Alright. The doctor came in before the rest of them to talk about medication, and recovery, and all that crap. And he said I'll probably limp for a while after I get the cast off. Maybe like a long while."

"Like, permanently?"

"I don't know. He said it's too early to tell. Anyways. Mrs. Forman was being all positive and 'oh, one day this will be behind us,' or whatever, and-" He looked out the door again.

"Hyde, just tell me."

He sighed, sounding like he was being interrogated. "And this image popped into my head of me walking down the aisle with a limp."

"Down the aisle like...at a wedding? With Jackie?"

"Yup." He sounded defeated. "I don't know if it's my head, or the drugs they're giving me, but something's wrong with me. This ain't normal thinking."

Donna burst into a grin. "Oh my god. You want to marry her."

"No, I don't," he said warningly.

"Jackie and Hyde, sitting in a tree," she sang happily, "M-A-R-R-I-E-D!"

"Shut your pie hole."

"This is great."

"No, it's weird and terrible, and it doesn't leave this room."

As juicy as this tidbit of information was, Donna kept her promises. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Good. I don't need Jackie bugging me about it." Hyde scoffed. "I feel like I need a shower."

"You weren't lying when you said you were all kinds of messed up."

"She gets in your head, man - burrows in like a worm and makes you crazy."

"Can I at least tell her you compared her to a worm?" Donna joked.

"No." He shoved the sandwich into his mouth to avoid continuing the conversation.

Hyde's doctor knocked, even though the door was open. "Hi, Steven. Didn't mean to interrupt your lunch hour." The doctor noticed Donna as soon as he entered the room. "You look familiar. Do you do commercials?"

"No, um, I do radio." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm on a billboard. I guess you've seen it."

"Yeah, I recognize your voice now. You're Hot Donna."

"Yeah! That's me." Donna nodded. She was still getting used to being recognized by fans, and as long as they weren't creepy, she really enjoyed the attention.

"My older kids are big fans. They listen all the time."

"No way!"

"They're going to be psyched when I tell them I met you." The doctor's eyes landed on Hyde, and suddenly he remembered why he was there. "Sorry, didn't mean to get off track there. I just came to take that pesky neckbrace off your hands. Or off your neck, I guess." He smiled awkwardly at his own joke.

"Right on," Hyde said in approval.

The doctor undid the velcro and removed the brace. "Let someone know if it hurts too much without that, but it's not good to wear them for too long."

"I'm not complaining." He had just gotten out of a neckbrace pretty recently after his last water tower fall. Donna figured that if he never had to wear one again, it would be too soon.

"You look better already," she said, "much less dorky."

"Sweet." He rubbed his neck. "One down, two to go."

"That reminds me, I still need to sign your cast!"

Donna found a marker on the side table, and next to Eric's message she signed her name...as Hot Donna, of course.

The doctor asked "could I possibly get an autograph for my kids?"

"Totally!"

* * *

A mere hour later, Jackie was dragging Donna down the hall with her under the guise of going to the bathroom together. "Spill," the brunette said.

"Spill what?"

"The beans! Spill the beans, Donna, I'm dying to know. What did Steven say when you two were alone?"

"Nothing!" She was slightly tempted to tell, sure, but not nearly enough to break her friend's trust. Jackie was glaring at her, though. She tried to come up with a cover story. "He talked about how he'd rather be at the record store than stuck here." That was surely true, even if it wasn't what they'd talked about.

Jackie put a hand over her heart. "Aww. He misses work. That's so business man-ly of him. He is going to be so successful one day, I just know it. You should take notes for Eric, Donna. Steven's a diamond in the rough, sure, but he's shaping up to be great marriage material." She gasped. "Speaking of diamonds-"

Donna rolled her eyes. "Don't get all heart-eyed, Jackie."

"You're no fun. No wonder Eric didn't marry you."

"Hey!"

* * *

 **A/N: There we have it! So at the moment, I'm thinking next chapter will skip forward a couple days, include Angie, Kelso, Fez, and Eric visiting, and will be the last (or at least the last full) hospital chapter. One after that, we're breaking out. Or being discharged. You know, whichever. Thanks so much for reading you guys! It's a pleasure writing for you all.**


	8. The Sun'll Come Out

**A/N: Hello! Sorry this chapter took a bit later than usual. It has been quite the week so far. Anyways, as promised, this is the last hospital chapter, but it will definitely not be the last chapter. I think/hope you'll like what comes next, but for now, enjoy what happens right...now!**

* * *

Kelso was staring at the cast on Hyde's leg as if he had x-ray vision. "So they put metal pins and stuff in it?"

"Yup," Hyde answered.

"Does that make you part robot?"

"Pretty much."

"That's so sweet. Man, you gotta, like, put some magnets up to your leg and see if they stick."

Fez shook his head. "Kelso, you idiot. The plaster will get in the way. You have to wait until the cast comes off before we stick magnets to Hyde."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I totally get that. Science and stuff."

Angie shook her head. Kelso was gorgeous, and could be very sweet, but...sometimes he was a little much to handle.

Eric had come to keep Hyde company every day so far, but for the other three in the room, this was their first time visiting since the night of the surgery. Right before the robot talk had begun, Angie had started thinking how she'd want to sign the cast. Should she just sign her name? Should she write a heartfelt message? A burn?

"Hey, Hyde, I've got what I'm going to do all planned out," Kelso said, referring to his turn with the marker.

Hyde shook his head. "No."

"I didn't even say it yet!"

"Unless it's 'Michael Kelso,' the answer is no."

"Aww, come on! What do you think I'm going to do?"

"Oh, gee. Forman, what do you think he's going to do?" Hyde tilted his head in Eric's direction.

"Well, Hyde, I think our friend Kelso here is going to draw you _two_ lovely breasts, that's right, _two_ for the price of one."

Kelso crossed his arms. "I was not going to draw a rack."

"Pot leaf?" Hyde asked.

"Damn it!"

"Angie, supervise your boyfriend."

Kelso rolled his eyes, but wrote just his name. Angie was sure of that - she did supervise. He did whisper something to Fez that made him laugh, though...she decided she wasn't going ask about that. Fez wrote his signature, and Angie grabbed the marker from him before he could do anything more. In the end, she way over thought what her own message should be, and settled for "get well soon" followed by her name. She mentally kicked herself for being unoriginal.

"Hey, Ang," Hyde said while she wrote, "WB told me that you pirouetted youself into needing stitches as a kid."

Did her dad really have to tell that story? "Okay, so I'm not a dancer. But I could theorize circles around a ballerina any day." In her book, being a math major was just as impressive as being a dancer. Everyone had different strengths, and hers just happened to be in a classroom and not onstage. Or in rooms full of expensive vases and knick knacks.

"How's that new car treatin' you?" There was something _strange_ about his tone.

"You know, it's...good. It drives." She felt guilty, since her present was still intact.

Kelso wasn't one for subtlety or subtext, though. "Oh, it's killer, man. Drives smooth as...uh...something that's smooth."

"Butter," Eric replied, as Fez simultaneously provided his own answer-

"Marshmallow fluff!"

"So..." Hyde mindlessly fiddled with the edge of his sling. "Kelso, Angie, did you see what kind of shape the motorcycle was in after...?"

"Yeah, it was practically broken as you are, dude," Kelso supplied.

Hyde rolled his eyes. "Good one."

Angie knew it wasn't really a joke, though. They'd both seen it afterwards. She couldn't bring herself to examine it carefully, but Kelso tried to keep his cool by playing cop and taking it all in. She thought he regretted that decision, because afterwards he was pretty shaken up. Kelso had a surprising sensitive side.

"Man, I need to get out of here," Hyde continued. "I'm starting to forget what the sky looks like."

"It's been, like, four days," Eric reasoned.

"The whole thing is a scam. They keep you here as long as possible to make a buck, and they make it sound good because they're doctors, so they're in this elite sociological sphere that prevents discussion with the layman-"

Eric cut off the paranoid rant. " _Or_...and try to stick with me here: doctors aren't trying to screw you over."

Hyde shook his head, lamenting, "Forman, you're so naive. Of course they are, they're part of the establishment."

" _What_ establishment?"

Hyde gestured vaguely. "The institution. The medical establishment. I told you, it's the social elite, man. Doctors, lawyers, guys with PhDs who wear ties for a living. They're all a part of it, because they can get away with whatever they want."

"Okay." Eric laughed that know-it all chuckle of his. "I think you've been hitting the button a little too hard, man." He pointed at the pain control pump, which lay on the bed.

Fez perked up. "Are you saying this whole time you've had a magic button that gets you high?"

"Nah, man. I'm sober as hell. It's a real tragedy."

Fez slumped back down, and Kelso patted his back. "It's okay, little buddy, we can hit the circle when we get home."

"Goody!"

* * *

With the day of Hyde's release quickly approaching, his doctor came in to talk about what he'd need to do once he got out. Kitty took it upon herself to join them.

"So clearly you're not going to be walking with that broken leg," the doctor said. _No shit, Sherlock,_ Hyde couldn't help but thinking. "Normally, you know, we'd just put someone on crutches with a break like that, but with your arm in a sling, the clearest option to me is a wheelchair."

Yeah, no. That would not work. "Pass."

Kitty looked at him. "Sweetheart, you can't pass. I don't think he's giving you options."

He turned to the doctor. "Do I have options?"

The doctor threw up his hand. "You can _try_ using just one crutch on the left, but I think you'll get tired of that pretty quickly, especially with the fractured rib on that side-"

"I'll do the crutch."

"Steven..." Kitty started.

The doctor adressed Kitty, "I'll send him home with both." _Do whatever you want, pal,_ Hyde thought, _but I'll do what I want._ The man looked at his clipboard. "I'll perscribe some painkillers, too; you'll want those for a while." He looked up. "The bottle will have instructions on how often to take them, but, just a reminder, don't drink any alcohol while you're on them."

Was there any silver lining to this? "You're killing me." And then he remembered that his foster mother was next to him. Ah, screw it, at least he was legal to drink now. As soon as he was off the medicine, he was going to have to have a kegger to celebrate. Now, there was an idea. He'd have Kelso take care of that.

Somehow Hyde hadn't thought much of what would happen after he was let out besides simply enjoying his freedom, and repeatedly picturing redoing the ride, and doing it right this time. Now, listening to the doctor talk, he was realizing a lot of things. Like, what the hell was he supposed to do about stairs? And showering? And driving? The doctor had answers for every question, many not good enough to lift his mood. Hyde didn't like being in positions like this. He wasn't pitying himself, but he didn't want to think about the weeks ahead. How much help he'd need. Right now, he was regretting not coming clean to WB about his total lack of experiece in the bike department. Hyde had screwed up plenty of things, sure, but he couldn't remember ever before doing something with such lasting (and annoying) consequences. He'd really messed up this time. There was a chorus of voices in his head chanting "I told you so." He sighed and told himself that at least one day he'd be able to spin this into a badass story.

The doctor had someone bring in a single crutch, and held it out in front of his patient. "Let's give it a go. Get you on your feet." He talked Hyde through how to use the crutch, and Hyde put the "crash" into "crash course."

Despite the pain, discomfort, and initial embarassment, it felt good to move. "Think the Tiny Tim look is in?" Hyde joked with a grimace as he hobbled, indeed looking like the _Christmas Story_ character.

"You'll get the hang of it."

* * *

Finally, the day of Hyde's release came. The papers were signed, and freedom was his...as soon as he was in the basement and away from the hovering of his parental figures. At least Red was waiting outside with the car, and not inside adding to the chaos. How had he gone from from two parents, to one, to none, back to just Bud for a second, to two, to three? It was getting hard to keep track. WB and Eric had been hanging out with him while Kitty finished work, and they waited for the official okay to high-tail it out of there. Hyde was dressed and ready to go. Granted, he was dressed in gym shorts thanks to the stupid cast, but no point bitching about that. He hadn't expected to be bringing back the Point Place Vikngs gym shorts, but it looked no dumber than jeans with one leg hacked off, which was the other option. There was no way to make a cast and sling look cool, but he liked to think the ACDC shirt didn't hurt. No matter what, ditching the hospital gown was a definite step up.

Although Hyde was Team Crutch, it was hospital policy to have a nurse wheel out all discharged patients to the front of the hospital to meet their ride home. Hence, he found himself in a wheelchair. Forman had rolled him to the window so he could wax sentimental about the last time he had fresh air and to monologue about the anticipation of feeling it again. "What's that?" He pointed out the window.

"Why, Little Orphan Boy," Eric pretended to be choked up, "that's a cloud."

"Wow! And that?"

"That's the sun."

Forman and Hyde did enjoy their little routines. WB rolled his eyes at them.

The doctor came in to bid Hyde adieu, and they were given the green light to head out. WB grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, and started for the door, when Kitty came in. "Today's a big day," she chirped. "Steven, are you excited?"

"Yeah," he scoffed at how obvious the answer was. "Does anyone ever say no to that question?"

Kitty tilted her head. "Not really, I suppose. It's just a nice thing to ask." Then, she noticed WB pushing the wheelchair. "Oh, I can do that!" She made a grab for the handles.

"That's fine," WB said, pulling it back slightly.

"No, really. I am a nurse. It's my job." She laughed nervously and successfully grabbed both handles.

"I didn't mind," WB said, sounding laid back, but retaking the handles.

"Oh, just let me do it!" Now it was Kitty's turn to once again try to take control.

Great, Hyde was in a game of tug of war. An image popped into his head of one of those package warnings that read _fragile, do not shake._ He offered, "I could walk."

"No!" both parents said in unison.

Hyde quickly retreated. "Okay."

" _I_ got it." Forman swooped in and grabbed the handles, and neither WB or Kitty protested. They must have realized how they sounded.

Hyde smirked. "Thanks, Florence Nightingale."

"No problem, Dr. Strangelove."

All four got into the elevator, and once he pressed the button for the first floor, Forman pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to his injured friend: a pair of aviator sunglasses. The elavator door opened, and, the facing the floor to ceiling windows that opened to the parking lot, Hyde put on his shades and smiled.

* * *

 **A/N: He's free! I was THIS close to making a reference to another curly haired orphan right at the end there ("the sun'll come out tomorrow!") So close. Screw it, if you're reading this now you know I've decided to make that the chapter title. ANYWAYS, I have a lot of things planned for the next chapter, so expect it very soon. Thank you so much for reading, review if you like, and have a fantastic day!**


	9. Stairway to Heaven

**A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you for your awesome reviews. I adore reading them. Anyways, this chapter is the first one with no scene breaks, so it was a bit hard to write, honestly. But I finally got it, and I'm pretty happy with it. Hope you are too!**

* * *

Eric had to admit, his mother was a gifted small-talker; she could draw out even the most mundane of statements for as long as possible. During the car ride, it was neighborhood gossip and talk of what she planned to make for dinner. Occasionally, one of the three men in the car would pretend to be interested, but for the most part they were quiet. Hyde was particularly quiet once the car started moving, eyes growing wide evey time the car went over a bump in the road, his hand instinctively going to the broken rib.

"You okay?" Eric asked.

"Uh huh," Hyde answered, his voice a bit too high.

Kitty, oblivious, was still talking. "I could pick up cherries from the Piggly Wiggly after the pharmacy. How does that sound? Or do you prefer blueberry pie? Or apple? I could make any kind. It's been too long since I've baked a pie." It had been less than a month.

"Cherry?" Eric looked at Hyde for approval, who gave a thumbs up.

"Cherry it is!"

A motorcycle passed them, and Hyde's eyebrows furrowed. The two boys watched as it went tightly around a corner, and, as Red cursed it for speeding, Hyde muttered "show off" under his breath.

"You weren't driving like that, were you Steven?" Red asked, and Eric wished he would shut up.

"Uh, not for the part I remember." He winced as they went around the corner. "And for the part I can't remember, I'm gonna guess not ramming into Angie's car proves I wasn't."

"You really don't remember it, huh?"

"Nope. It's some soap opera level crap."

That comment got Kitty talking about her new favorite soap opera the rest of the way home. Several minutes of rambling later, they were pulling up to their house. Eric spotted Bob Pinciotti mowing his lawn next door as they pulled into the driveway. Red groaned as Bob turned off the lawn mower and started approaching them. "Ah geez, can't I get a minute of peace?" Red whined.

"Howdy, neighbors!" Bob said cheerfully the second the car doors opened.

Hyde opened his door and was greeted with an "aw geez, kid, what happened to you?"

"Here's a word of advice for you, Bob," Hyde began, "if you ever see a bear in your campground, do not fight it back. The bear will win."

Before Bob could be too surprised, Kitty crushed the joke as she walked to the trunk of the car. "Oh, no. Steven just had a little accident involving a motorcycle."

Hyde scoffed. " _Little_."

Bob still looked impressed. "Oh wow, a motorcycle, huh? Bet the girls'll love that one."

Hyde crossed his fingers, and Eric got out of the car. Hyde called after him, "grab me the crutch, will you?"

"Sure." Eric walked to the back of the car, where his mother was unloading the trunk of everything they'd brought back from the hospital. Eric grabbed the single crutch and brought it to Hyde, and noticed that Bob had wondered off to inadvertently bother Red. Eric stood back as Hyde figured out how to get up and started towards the house, then walked beside him. Eric inevitably got there first, and crossed his arms as he watched Hyde catch up.

"What are you looking at?" Hyde asked, putting on a tough voice.

"You look like Tiny Tom," Eric said, amused.

"It's Tiny _Tim_ ," his friend corrected. "And I know."

Eric opened the door with a smirk, and they went inside. As soon as the boys entered, Kitty pulled out a chair at the kitchen table. "Sit, sit, sit!" She ushered Hyde to the seat and shook her head at the sight. "You really should stay off that leg as much as possible." Eric knew Hyde didn't particularly appreciate advice, so he wasn't surprised with how the conversation went. As soon as his mom mentioned using the wheelchair over the crutch, the world's politest arguement ensued between the two. Red came in briefly to get beer for himself and Bob, and put an end to the spat almost as quickly as it had started, telling Hyde (among other things) that that thing had cost a lot of money, god damn it, and he'd use it.

Hyde relented, and soon was situated and pushing the left wheel with as little enthusiasm as possible. After Kitty (who seemed pleased) and Red left to join Bob in the living room, Hyde rolled the left wheel forward twice more, then noticed something. He looked at the right wheel, at the sling he wore on his right side, and reached over his left arm sling to roll the untried wheel. The attempt was a failure; it barely budged. "I seem to have found a fatal flaw in this plan," Hyde said, pushing the left wheel over and over so that he was now going in a circle.

"Let me try something." Eric took hold of the handles and shoved the wheelchair forward about a foot. "Fixed it. I guess the handles aren't decoration afterall."

Hyde gave him the finger, and Eric knew that his "help" wouldn't change his friend's mind about how to get around. Maybe Hyde would give up and give in, maybe not. All Eric knew was that trying to sway him would probably makes things worse, so instead he took the approach of being annoying intentionally to make light of the situation: in this case, by singing the first few lines of "Help" by The Beatles.

"See?" Hyde said, indeed annoyed, and ineffectively shoved one of the wheels. "I can't even ditch you."

Eris sung the next loud even louder. At that moment, Donna and Jackie took it upon themselves to let themselves in (Eric couldn't remember the last time someone knocked before coming in). Jackie immediatly went in to kiss her boyfriend, while Donna hung back. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Hyde."

Hyde smiled. "It's good to be back." Then he looked down. "Mostly."

Donna tried not to smile, noticing the gym shorts. "Are you trying out for the high school basketball team?"

"Yeah, but for some reason I can't nail my trickshot," Hyde said sarcastically, and flicked the sling.

Jackie crossed her arms. "I don't think it's funny." Then she said to Hyde, "you are going to have such uneven tan lines."

"Oh, the humanity!" Eric said.

"Jackie," Hyde said, "I want you to enjoy what I'm going to say next, because it's never happening again. We need to go clothes shopping."

"Yay!" Jackie screeched, and the others covered their ears. "I have been waiting for a boy to say those words to me my whole life."

"Like I said, one time deal. Now let's go to the basement. I need to hear music that isn't of the _elavator_ genre."

Jackie asked him, "how can you do stairs?" She had a good point. How were they going to hang in the basement if moving was such a problem for one of them?

"Trial and error." Hyde pushed himself up and hopped foward a step, using one of the kitchen chairs to steady himself while he grabbed the crutch from the table. "And hopefully not breaking my face in the process."

Jackie moved towards him. "You know, speaking of that, you've got a bruise on your jaw I've been meaning to talk to you about. A little concealer will take care of that, no problem. Oh, and while we're at it, a little chapstick."

"No makeup."

"But-!"

"No."

Eric stood in the doorway that led down to the basement. "Are we going to the basement or not?" The others nodded, and he went several steps down. Hyde appeared at the landing, and stared down the staircase, thinking.

"You're going to need help," Jackie said.

Hyde continued looking down the stairs. "Without the crutch I can hold the railing, and just..." In a quick move, he dropped the crutch, grabbed the railing, then hopped down a step. The crutch noisily slid to the bottom of the staircase. "Piece of cake." He carefully hopped down another step. Eric instinctively stayed near, spotting him.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Jackie asked.

"Whatever."

It took a couple of minutes to get halfway down, then Donna got impatient and decided to step in. "Yeah, doing this ten times a day isn't going to get old," Hyde scoffed. Finally, they were all in the basement, music blaring, and Hyde in his lawn chair with leg propped up on the table at Jackie's insistence.

"Forman, where do you keep scissors?" Hyde lifted his arm, the hospital bracelet sliding down his wrist.

"Upstairs. Help yourself." Eric thought it was clever, but the joke fell flat among his friends. "I'm kidding! I'll get them." He found a pair in a drawer and handed them over. Of course, cutting something off of the same arm you were using to work the scissors was not possible, so Eric did the honors.

After thanking him, Hyde used his teeth to rip off the piece of cotton taped to his arm where the IV needle had been. Then, he picked up the severed bracelet and chucked it across the room. "Good riddance."

Two episodes of Scooby Doo later, Kitty, back from her errands, came downstairs. After commententing on her surprise that he managed to make it downstairs, she handed Hyde a white paper bag and class of water, saying "here, Steven. I went ahead and picked up your medication. The instructions are on the bottle. If you have any questions, I'll be upstairs. But...but don't come upstairs, I don't need you going up and down all day. Just call, or send Eric, or - ooh, maybe I should get a bell."

"No, that's okay, Mrs. Forman," Hyde said quickly. "Thanks."

"Well, alright. I'm going to make sandwiches for lunch, and then get to work on that pie."

Hyde nudged Jackie. "Hey, Jackie, why don't you go help her?"

Jackie looked like a deer in headlights. "Um..."

"Jackie? In the kitchen? No, no. I don't need any help," Kitty said, her worry a little too obvious. "You kids just enjoy yourselves down here, and leave the kitchen work to me." She laughed and retreated upstairs.

Hyde pulled out the orange pill bottle and started skimming the label. "Take one to two every six hours as needed. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery - like that's going to happen anyway, no alcohol, can cause blah blah blah, do not take more than yadda yadda. Okay." He pressed down on the child-safe cap, but couldn't twist it off. "Damn it."

"Here, baby, let me do it." Jackie took it from him, gave him a pill, and then read the label more carefully.

Hyde swallowed the pill before asking, "hey, Forman, you wanna get my stash from my room?"

"Wait!" Jackie said, still reading.

"The doc said no alcohol. He didn't say anything about smoking," Hyde assured her.

She considered this. "Fine."

Eric retrieved the stash from Hyde's room, and soon the circle was in full swing.

Hyde was sporting a dopey, blissful smile. "Man, this is good stuff."

"Which stuff? The stash or the pills?" asked Jackie.

"Who cares? It's all good, man."

"Yeah," Eric nodded in approval. "Too bad Kelso and Fez aren't here."

Donna added, "yeah, we haven't had a full group circle in a week. It's just been a...a pentagram."

"You mean a pentagon," Eric said.

"And now it's a square. A good square, but a square."

"You know," Jackie said, "if you count people as corners then it can't be a circle. Because they have no corners."

"No geometry in the circle," Hyde declared. The group fell silent. Hyde soaked up the pause, then smirked. "Hey...did you know there's this car-"

Eric groaned. _Some things never changed._ He shook his head, smiling. "Welcome back, man."

* * *

 **A/N: That's it! Next chapter there will be some Nurse Jackie-ing, and then either the second half of that one or the next chapter will be visiting Grooves. So look forward to that! Thank you all so much for reading. Until next time!**


	10. Medicine

**A/N: Hi! Today I thought of a new idea for a chapter that I'm super excited to write, but we won't see that for a while, mostly because I'm trying to really balance the comedic, lighter portions with the angstier bits. Here we have a mostly funny chapter, with a bit of JH fluff for you guys. I hope you like it! PS, I'm trying to update once a week now. I'll pick a regular postingtime soon, and hopefully that will entail releasing chapters earlier in the day as opposed to midnight (what can I say, I work better when it's late). Thank you all so much for your continued support!**

* * *

It was hard to focus when high as a kite, to borrow one of Forman's phrases. Hyde was trying to listen to Kitty, he really was, but his eyes kept drifting to other things in the room, and soon he'd realized he'd zoned out yet again. Crap, what was she saying now? Something about sleeping? He told himself for the tenth time that conversation to focus. But god, the wall of his bedroom was suddenly interesting.

"Steven?"

"What?" His eyes recentered on Kitty.

"So what do you think?"

"Uh..." Kitty was looking at him expectantly. What was she asking about? Maybe if he waited long enough to give an answer, she'd keep talking and he'd be able to figure it out. "Huh, you know, that's...a tough one."

"I know you must have missed your room, but I just think it'll be so much easier. It'll save you one trip every morning and night, at least."

Okay, so she was talking about sleeping somewhere else. And being spared a trip...down the stairs? That must be it. So he'd be sleeping...in the living room? "Yeah." He blinked vacantly, staring over her shoulder. "I think...uh..." He thought over everything she had just said again. "I missed my room, and...but, the stairs..." He told himself to concentrate once more. Staring off into space could wait. "The stairs are a pain, but I can handle them." There, now he sounded like a person with a brain.

Kitty wrung her hands. "I'd just worry..."

"I mean, Forman and I hang out down here every night after dinner, so it wouldn't really be saving me a trip." Yes, he was making a case. He mentally patted himself on the back for this, even though he was putting no thought into which stance he took. This one seemed easiest.

"Well, okay." Kitty sighed. "At least for tonight, and then maybe we can revisit the idea tomorrow."

"Cool. Good talk, Mrs. Forman." He remembered the plate in his hand, the reason she'd come downstairs to begin with. "And good pie. One of your bests. Barbara would be jealous." He was pretty sure Barbara was one of Mrs. Forman's baking rivals, one of those Ladies of Point Place.

"Why thank you, Steven, you are too sweet." She giggled. "Do you think it could beat Barbara's pecan pie she's always on about?"

"Any day."

"Aww." She smiled, and then her expression morphed into satisfaction. "I am taking home that blue ribbon this year." Placated, she left his room.

He had no idea how many minutes passed between Mrs. Forman leaving and Jackie coming back from the bathroom. Surely it was only a few. "Hey," Jackie said with the kind of smile that only came from the circle, "I ran into Mrs. Forman in the kitchen and she told me she thinks your medicine is making you spacey."

Hyde burst out laughing. "My 'medicine' is working great, man." He put finger quotes around the word "medicine."

"Oh yeah?" She sat on his bed.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?" She leaned in.

"Yeah!" He leaned in closer, until finally they were kissing. "Hey, Grasshopper. I love you."

Jackie sniggered, but then said "I love you, too."

Hyde's expression betrayed his confusion. Why did she laugh? "What?"

"You saying cute things like that unprompted. You are so high." She twirled a strand of his hair.

"What can I say, I'm in a good mood."

She laid down next to him, and he rested his head on her shoulder. She asked, "you're actually admitting that you're happy?"

"Happy is a strong word," he said, only because of his reputation.

"Whatever, Mr. Cool Guy."

"...But yeah."

"Good." She continued twirling his hair. "You should be happy more often, Puddin'."

* * *

After the best night of sleep he'd had in a week, Hyde was woken up by Forman, who was sent by his mother to announce that he was about to miss breakfast. Hyde popped a pain pill from the open bottle and then the two made their way upstairs. The table was set, each plate piled with pancakes, eggs, and bacon, and glasses filled with orange juice. Red grunted in acknowledgement of Hyde entering, but Kitty greeted him with a cheerful "good morning, sleepy head!"

"Mornin'."

Once seated with the rest of her family, Kitty took a better look at Hyde. "Honey, you're wearing the same clothes as yesterday."

He only had one pair of shorts. Yeah, he could have changed shirts, but with a broken shoulder that seemed like too much effort. He gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Wore the same thing for a week at the hospital." Suddenly, he noticed that his pancake was already cut. Convenient, yes, but also somewhat annoying.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Kitty said, "Angie called for you while I was making breakfast."

"Everything okay at the store?" Hyde knew he needed to get in touch with WB to figure out when he'd go back to work. He could probably have as long off as he liked, but he was in a rush to get back for a couple of reasons. First, if he was at Grooves he could avoid the (s)mothering of Kitty a bit. Secondly, he could use the money. He was sure the Formans and WB were going to cover all of the accident related costs, but he wanted to chip in, or at least buy them something nice as a thank you. His final reason for wanting to return was the layout of the store; everything was on one floor, which meant no dealing with stairs every time he had to take a leak.

Mrs. Forman answered, "She just wanted to know how you're doing."

"She should just ask Kelso," said Forman.

Red peered over his newspaper. "Now, what's a nice girl like her doing with the kettlehead anyway?"

Hyde sighed. "I don't know."

"Kelso's dating your sister," Forman sang.

"Oh, by the way, how's Laurie doing?" Hyde said, daring him to keep talking.

"Okay, point taken."

The boys exchanged a look, the kind that said _I'm watching you_ , then dug into their pancakes. The scene played out as it often did, with familial banter and the intrusion of Kelso, who claimed a stack of pancakes for himself after devouring the rest of the bacon. For once, he brought something in return: a box of doughnuts he'd bought for the novelty of fulfilling the cop stereotype. Inevitably, the other members of the gang arrived just in time for Red to excuse himself to go to the muffler shop.

Hyde stood up with the intention of calling Angie back, but sunk back into his seat just as quickly as he had stood. Only Jackie noticed, luckily. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"'Nothing. Just got dizzy for a minute."

The concern on Jackie's face was replaced with a look of understanding. "Oh."

"What?"

"That was one of the side effects listed on your pill bottle. You read that, didn't you?"

Hyde scratched his head. "Yeah - can cause blah blah blah."

"This is the blah blah blah."

"Great."

He stood up again, this time putting an arm around his girlfriend, who ushered him into the living room and onto the sofa, where he lay with his head on her lap. "Hey, Jackie, don't go making a big deal out of this."

"I do not make big deals out of things."

"Uh, yeah you do. Every friggin' day."

Forman appeared in front of them before Jackie would argue. "What's up?" he asked.

Hyde sat up immediatly upon seeing his friend, but Jackie put a hand on his shoulder. "Lay down."

He rolled his eyes. "Jackie-"

"Steven," she said warningly.

"Fine! But not because you told me to."

Forman looked at them with all of the curiosity of a kid at a sideshow.

"Steven's not feeling well," Jackie filled him in.

"I'm fine," Hyde said, noticing that he could see up Forman's nose from this angle.

This information only brought up more questions for Forman. "Uh, Hyde-"

"It's the stupid pills. Whatever, I'm fine." Dizziness was a minor inconvenience compared to the intravenous medication at the hospital that made him want to puke.

"You wanna ask my mom about it?"

" _No_ , don't ask your _mommy_. I told you, it's not a problem."

"Okay." Forman put his hands in his pockets. "Do you want water or something?"

"Coffee. Black." It probably wouldn't solve the dizziness, but he was drowsy as hell. He would have to actually read the bottle label at some point. He turned to Jackie, wondering aloud, "how come it didn't do anything to me yesterday?"

Both of them seemed to have a simultaneous realization. "The circle."

Hyde locked eyes with her, saying, "huh. Wanna try a little experiment?"

* * *

As soon as Kitty was out of the house, Hyde broke out his stash. Surprisingly, it helped. "Man, I'm going to burn through this so fast," he said.

"You feel better?" Jackie said, perky.

"Uh huh."

"Yay! Can we go shopping now?"

Oh, right. He'd promised her. "Yeah, I guess."

"Don't say it like you're being tortured. I am going to make you look so good. Are you sure you won't consider makeup?"

"Yes."

"Alright, your loss. Let's go!"

Fez asked, "where are you going?"

"Probably the mall," said Jackie.

"Ooh, can I come?"

"Sure."

"Hooray, road trip!" Fez cheered.

Jackie nudged Hyde. "Why can't you have his enthusiasm?"

"Must be genetic." Just then, he remembered something. "Crap, I still gotta call Angie."

His phone call with Angie was just the way he liked calls: short. She insisted that things were totally under control, and that after a week of running the shop by herself she was starting to get the hang of it.

"Don't get too used to having it to yourself," he told her. "I'm going to see if I can get one of the guys to give me a ride over there tomorrow."

"Miss me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, sis. I just can't handle another solid twenty four hours of mother-henning. You break a couple of bones and suddenly everyone freaks out on you."

Angie sighed in fake sympathy. "Oh, I'm sorry people want to make sure you recover. That must be hard on you."

"It's annoying."

Her tone shifted to a more genuine one. "Yeah, it would get pretty old pretty fast being the center of attention all of the time." He hadn't exactly thought of it like that, about being the center of attention. He preferred to stay more under the radar, definitely. For someone dating a Kelso, she was pretty smart.

"Yeah, so, like I was saying, expect me there sometime tomorrow. I probably won't work-"

"So no different than usual."

"Angie-" Hyde smirked, "-that there is what we call a burn. Congratulations."

* * *

Hyde had been strong-armed into using the wheelchair at the mall; Jackie had given plenty of logical reasons ("it's too much walking, especially in a crowded place with multiple floors."), but the part he reacted to most was Kelso asking if he could borrow it for racing if Hyde wasn't going to use it. Hyde actually thought that would be a great idea, but Jackie extinguished any hope of that spectacle. Her final offer was to pay for everything if Hyde gave in. To be honest, he didn't mind terribly. The crutch was a bitch to use after a while. However, he did mind the gawking of the other mall-goers.

"Man, all these people staring are making me paranoid."

"Yes, but you are always paranoid," Fez said.

"Fair enough."

Fez, Jackie, and Hyde entered a clothing store, and soon Jackie was asking him a bunch of questions about clothing preference.

"I don't know, I don't wear shorts." Shorts were decidedly not cool.

Jackie huffed. "Okay, fine. I know you really well, so I'll just do my best."

"I'll give you an A for effort, but don't get your hopes up."

Jackie shook her head. "It's such a shame your mother never exposed you to the magic of shopping. I am going to find the best shorts ever, and you are going to say 'Jackie, love of my life, I was so wrong to ever doubt your shopping skills.' I'm like the fairy godmother in Cinderella."

Fez said, "I think it was the mice who made the clothes in Cinderella."

"Ew, I don't want to be a mouse. Mice are icky. And I'm not making clothes, that's a poor person job. I'm just the stylist." She looked around the crowded store. "You two stay here, and I'll be back as soon as I find a good pair." She tossed her hair. "And I have a great eye, so it will probably only take a minute."

Hyde looked around the store, and out into the main hallway of the mall. "Which circle of Hell do you think this is, man?"

Fez wasn't listening, however. He was holding up a pair of pink shorts to himself. "What do you think of these? Too girly?"

"I think this is the third circle of Hell."

"So, is that a yes?"

* * *

 **A/N: I seem to have inadvertantly referrenced my friend Nannygirl's (AMAZING) fic If You Ever Did Believe with the whole Jackie/Cinderella thing. Guess princess references just fit with her.**

 **So, next chapter we pick up just exactly where I left off! I wasn't even going to show the shopping until Aliyamad said they were looking forward to it, but now I have enough ideas for it planned that it'll take up the first part of next chapter. Things to look forward to without spoiling too much: a stranger striking up a conversation with Hyde (reread the summary, hint hint), and then Grooves. Lots of comedy in the next one. I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review if you're enjoying, I really appreciate them and they frequently give me new ideas or help me think of things in a new way or bring up things I haven't thought of before. At the very least, they let me know what kind of stuff you guys like most. Until next time, readers! Have a lovely day!**


	11. Conversations With Strangers

**A/N: Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been so much longer than usual since I've updated. I was sick for a while, and after that it was hard to get back into the habit of writing. And honestly, most of the planning I've been doing has been going towards a future chapter, which, because I'm impatient, will probably be next chapter. I hope you enjoy this one! Thanks for sticking around!**

"Fez..." Hyde grumbled, essentially stuck as Fez wandered ahead to look at the sale rack. Soon both he and Jackie were hidden in the sea of clothes racks and other shoppers. Hyde pushed a wheel, but he whipped in a tight circle. The other wheel was caught on the metal leg of one of the clothing racks. He sighed.

"Excuse me, do you need a hand?" A girl appeared to his left.

He tapped his cast. "I need a leg, but I'll take a hand."

With a shy smile, the girl pulled the wheelchair back so that is was clear of obstacles.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Nice shorts. What grade are you in?"

He tilted his head. "What?"

"Those gym shorts. You go to Point Place High too?" It was then that he noticed she was wearing a varsity soccer shirt bearing the logo and school colors of his former high school.

"Kid, that ship has sailed. Do I look like I still go to high school?" This was exactly why he needed to buy new shorts. Well, that and they were generally lame. But if some kid thought _he_ was a kid, that was an added problem.

"No. I don't know? I just assumed. I have those same shorts."

"I used to go there. Before I graduated."

"Oh, so do you go to college now?"

"I run a record store." He scanned the crowd for either Fez or Jackie, but saw neither.

"Awesome! What's it called?"

He didn't want to have a conversation with this random high school girl. "Grooves."

"Neat." There was an awkward silence. Both of them looked around the store, searching. "I broke my leg playing soccer once," the girl finally said.

"And here I thought I was the only one who's ever broken anything. It's a relief to know I'm not alone."

Fez suddenly appeared, holding an arm's load of colorful shirts. "Hello, Hyde." He turned to the girl. "And hello, pretty lady. What's your name?"

The girl answered "Janie," while Hyde shook his head, mouthing _she's in high school._

Fez didn't see, so Hyde was forced to speak out loud. " _Janie_ goes to our old high school," he said, hoping Fez would take the hint not to flirt with her.

"Oh," Fez said, understanding. "Do you have an older sister? Maybe...we went to school with them." The second sentence tumbled out awkwardly.

Janie nodded. "I have a sister, but, uh...since your friend got back to you I better get back to mine. See you." Seeing as she left as soon as Fez showed up, Hyde wondered if she had intentionally stuck around just long enough to make sure he wasn't alone. As if he wasn't capable by himself.

"Wait!" Fez called after her, "what is your sister's name?"

"Give it up, man. We'll get you hooked up with some chick at the record store."

"Is that the same thing you said to Kelso before he did it with your sister?" He looked at Hyde expectantly.

Hyde sighed. "I can't hit you from here, just say it."

"A-burn!"

Finally, Hyde spotted Jackie halway across the store, and heading in their direction.

"Man, does she look mad to you?"

Fez shrugged. "It's Jackie."

Jackie approached them, several pairs of shorts draped over her arm. Her eyebrows were furrowed. "Where did your new friend go?"

Hyde rolled his eyes. "Oh god, you're not going to get jealous over some random girl, are you?"

"I am _not_ jealous. I don't need to get jealous. Jealousy is for ugly girls and for pretty girls who are insecure, and I mean _hello,_ of course I'm beautiful. Everyone knows that."

Fez nodded. "It's true."

"So don't worry about me being jealous," Jackie continued, "because I know no other girl can compete with me."

"Remember this morning when I said you're dramatic?" Hyde asked.

"I'm not being dramatic! You asked me a question and I just answered it."

"Whatever. I'm pretty sure that girl just stuck around until Fez showed up 'cause she felt sorry for me."

"Oh, if anyone is going to feel sorry for you, it is me."

"You're doing the dramatic thing again. And no one should feel sorry for me."

Fez took a step back, mumbling to himself about how awkward it was being in the middle of a lovers' quarrel. As Hyde and Jackie continued arguing, he scurried away, apparently deciding to get back to his own shopping until they were done at this store.

"I'm not trying to start a fight with you," Hyde was saying. Jackie hesitated to speak so he continued, "can I see the shorts you picked out? That chick thought I was in high school because of these lame-ass gym shorts. I gotta trade up."

"She thought you were in high school?" Jackie's mouth betrayed a hint of a smile.

"It's not funny."

"You're right," she said, handing him the shorts so she could cover he mouth to keep from laughing. "Mr. _Cool_ is in high _school_."

"Laugh it up," Hyde said flatly as he sifted through the clothes. "These will work. Thanks, doll."

"You're welcome."

It was only after they had bought their purchases that the couple noticed their friend was gone. "Hey, where's Fez?" Jackie asked.

"Probably looking for a candy shop."

Jackie sighed. "First floor, other side of the mall." As they left the shop, Jackie took a quick second to discreetly glare at the girl who'd been talking to Hyde.

"Do you have the entire mall memorized?

"What, are you surprised?"

"Nope." He was surprised he _ended up with_ Jackie Burkhart, but not that she was a girl who knew the layout of the mall by heart. "C'mon. Better find Fez before he racks up a car payment in candy."

* * *

After getting home from the mall, Jackie helped Steven clean up. With a bright smile, she said, "don't you feel better? I love this new shampoo. Your hair smells like lavender!"

"Of course you love it, you bought it."

"Oh, you love it too."

"Whatever," he brushed her off. Jackie took this as an agreement.

"Do the new shorts fit?"

"Yeah."

"Good! Which shirt do you want?"

"Don't care."

"Zeppelin?" She held up the black shirt.

"Yeah."

Carefully, she took off his sling and maneuvered the shirt on.

"Can't even put on a shirt," Steven muttered. "What a world."

"You don't have to wear a shirt," she said, smirking.

"Heh."

Someone knocked on the door. "Hyde, you ready to go?" Kelso called.

"Yeah." He grabbed his crutch, stood, and unlocked the bedroom door.

"Hope I wasn't interrupting anything," Kelso joked as the couple joined him in the main room of the basement. "But I told Angie I'd be at the store like half an hour ago, and I still have to get gas, so we should hurry up."

"Alright. See you later, Jackie."

"Bye, Puddin'!"

Kelso snorted. "Puddin'. Man, that never gets old."

* * *

"Hey, Steven!" Angie stepped out from behind the counter. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doin'." He moved to one of the chairs. "The store looks good. Saw you finally got around to sweeping the cigarette butts out front."

"Yeah, you were supposed to be doing that all along, but you're welcome."

"By the way," he started, "I haven't exactly thanked you two for getting help or whatever after I crashed, so. You know. Thanks."

Kelso patted his shoulder. "All in a day's work, buddy. I'm probably going to get called to that kind of thing pretty often, being a cop and all, so I should probably get used to seeing people bleeding, and...screaming, and..." He trailed off, looking into space.

"Kelso?" Hyde snapped a finger in front of his friend's face. "You okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He looked into Hyde's eyes. "It's just...like, I was thinking. If you hadn't...like, I just wanted to tell you that I love you, man. You're like my brother. Or like a really cool cousin."

"Okay, well, now that Kelso's made things weird, I'm going to get to work."

Angie put her hands on her hips. " _You're_ going to work?" Her tone was skeptical tinged with concern.

"Work. Pretend to work. It's all the same."

"Knock yourself out, I guess. Just stay away from ladders."

"Damn, there goes all of my plans for the afternoon."

A bell rang as a small group of people came in. Angie greeted them, and went back to her place behind the register. The customers went about looking at music, and Hyde grabbed a guitar catalogue from the table. He casually flipped through it, half listening to the people in the shop. He heard them wondering what to get for someone they knew, so he put down his catalogue to offer them his assistance. That's how he noticed Kelso had snuck on the floor and was drawing something on his cast.

"Kelso-"

"What?" Kelso said with a goofy smile and all of the innocence of a toddler caught red handed.

"You know, man, drawing pot leaves is funny on the water tower, or on Forman's face when he passes out, but not on a cast I'm stuck with for three months and have to wear to work."

"It's pretty funny."

Hyde made a move, so Kelso lunged back, and held up a hand in self defense. "Nuh-uh. You can't frog me from here."

He was right. So instead, Hyde threw the crutch at him.

"Ow," Kelso complained, "dude, that hurt!"

"Scratch it out."

"Well, I can't, now that my _arm_ is hurt."

"Boo hoo."

Kelso uncapped the marker and scribbled over his doodle. "Work's changed you, man."

Angie crossed the store, and as she passed them she whispered, "do I have to tell you not to throw things?" Before Hyde could answer, she was already gone. Kelso, rubbing his arm, went to follow her. Hyde picked up the catalogue again, but middle-aged man sat down in Kelso's place, holding two records.

He asked the guy, "can I help you?"

"You work here?"

"Yeah, I'm the co-manager. I'm not technically working today, but I'm here, so if you want help with anything, I'm your man. Unless it involves high shelves. Then you'll want her." He pointed at Angie.

"Well, thanks." The older man's look lingered, and then he dropped his gaze to his records. There was a brief pause before he looked up again. "Sorry if I'm over stepping, but I gotta ask. Did you, uh...was it a motorcycle accident?"

Hyde was genuinely surprised. "Is it that obvious?"

"There was a crash just around the corner from my house the other week. I put two and two together. That, and you learn to recognize road rash." He gestured to the leg that wasn't in the cast, but was indeed covered with road rash. "That stuff's nasty. I should know."

"Yeah?" Now he really had Hyde's interest.

"Yep. I got my first bike twenty years ago, and I was in my first accident sixteen years ago. First and only, luckily."

"Whoa. What happened?"

"A deer jumped in front of me, and I swerved to avoid it, but the road was slick because it had been raining like hell. I'm still kicking myself for that mistake. But hey, at least the deer walked away unscratched."

"Damn. Do you still ride?"

"Oh yeah. You live and you learn. I haven't had an incident since. I know some people who weren't so lucky as you and me, though." He momentarily looked down, shaking his head slowly. "So anyway-" he looked up, "-what was it for you?"

"What, how'd I wipe out?"

"Yeah. You don't gotta tell me-"

"No, it's okay. I'd tell you if I could, but my concussion swore me to secrecy."

Kelso leaned over the back of the sofa and added, "yeah, he's got amnesia."

"And my friend's got two brain cells," he said, more to Kelso than to the man. "The actual crashing of the bike is a blank. It's not like in the movies, like, I knew who I was in everything. But that couple of minutes is totally gone."

The man raised his eyebrows. "That's wild, man. You're probably lucky, it's not a memory you really want to be thinking about too much."

"I guess not." There was an awkward pause, so Hyde introduced himself. "The name's Steven Hyde, by the way."

The man shook his hand. "David James."

"And _I'm_ Michael Kelso," Kelso said as he hopped over the back of the sofa to sit, in a phoney bashful tone.

"Pleasure to meet you guys." For the sake of being polite, David shook his hand too. "So, Mr. Hyde, which of these records would you recommend I get for my sister?"

 **A/N: So there we go! I've been waiting to write some parts of this chapter for a while now. Interactions with strangers are going to be a reoccuring theme in this story. They'll be varied and serve a purpose (again, reread the summary _hint hint_ ) and I hope you don't mind them. They won't be every chapter, just every once in a while. I really hope you guys liked this chapter, and I hope you like what's coming up next! Just a warning, I have the outcome of the next one planned out, but I may be willing to sway based on your opinions. You'll jut have to wait and see what I'm talking about. Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day!**


	12. Stairwaves

**A/N: Hello everyone! A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed. I'm so glad you guys are liking this. I hope you like this chapter too!**

* * *

After closing, Kelso and Hyde stopped for a smoking break in the parking lot before returning to Forman's house. They sat on the hood of Kelso's convertable. Kelso was staring at the sun, which was just starting to set, deciding Hyde probably wouldn't share his appreciation of the beautiful view if he mentioned it. It probably took a couple of years of Jackie forcing you to notice it every night and pointing out what a romantic backdrop it was before you learned to appreciate it.

"Hey, Kelso, man - what do you say we take the long way home?"

"What long way? Like, stopping for cheeseburgers?"

Hyde took a long drag before speaking. "That's not what I meant, but I'm up for that."

"Oh. What were you talking about?"

"I was thinkin' we check out the place where I crashed."

Kelso paused. Was that a good idea? Oh well, it wasn't his place to decide for his friend, and it wasn't like he got credit for being good at making decisions anyway. "Sure. Maybe you'll remember something."

"Maybe. Maybe there'll be a sign in big red letters reading 'this is where you went wrong.'"

"There's not going to be a sign, Hyde."

"I know."

"We could totally do some sleuthing though! Observing the scene is basically my specialty now. I bet I can find some clues at the scene."

"Okay, Nancy Drew." Hyde flicked his cigarette onto the pavement and snuffed it with the crutch. Kelso followed suit.

They silently made their way to the front seats of the car and hit the road, wind ruffling their hair as they picked up speed. Kelso followed the path his girlfriend had taken when she first took out the car her father got her.

"That was it," Hyde said as they passed an old red house, breaking the silence.

"No, it's still a couple of miles."

"Nah, I mean..." Hyde shook his head. "That's it. That's as far as I remember." Kelso thought back to a newly operated-on, stoned Hyde complaining that he's only have a few minutes worth of cool motorcycle memories.

"The bike was pretty awesome. If it makes you feel any better, I covered a piece of glass from the mirror with a leaf and told it to rest in peace."

"More like rest in pieces."

"Ha! Yeah. That's good, man." Kelso smiled.

Hyde smirked back at him. "Good to know it got a funeral," he scoffed. "You know what they say; why must the good die young?"

"Cause you suck at riding bikes."

"Shut up." He was still smiling, though. "I'd hit you if you weren't driving."

"That crutch really hurt, man." Kelso wondered if the spot would bruise.

"Well-" Hyde cut himself off.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Both were quiet for a moment, and then Kelso said "uh, you know how you were asking Angie about her car a few days back?"

"Yeah, I guess?"

"She thinks that you, like, blame her. Or are mad 'cause she still has her thing from WB and you don't. Which is crazy!"

"She thinks that?"

"Yeah, but I told her there was no way you think it's her fault."

"Good, because I don't."

"See, I knew you wouldn't."

Shortly after turning onto a small, residential street, Kelso pulled over. Once parked, he got out of the car.

Opening his door, Hyde asked, "this it?"

"Yep. Right over here." Kelso pointed to a spot on the road.

"This is sort of trippy," Hyde said casually, standing up. "I feel like I'm supposed to...I don't know...feel something?"

"I mean, maybe it's a delayed reaction. On account of you being emotionally dead and stuff."

"I wouldn't call it emotionally _dead_ , but I'll take that as a compliment." He followed Kelso to the spot and stared. "I don't know, man, I really just - like, I don't - it's just another road, man. Maybe if I layed on the _ground_ I'd have a flashback and get all teary eyed or something."

"No cars are coming. You should do it."

"No," he responded curtly.

"I'm just trying to be supportive." Kelso shrugged.

Ignoring him, Hyde looked at the sky and was quiet. "I guess I recognize it from waiting for the ambulance. The view wasn't first thing on my mind, though. It was darker through the helmet lens." He turned around slowly and looked at the shoulder of the road.

Kelso pointed to a patch of dirt. "This is where I had the funeral for it. Some guys came later and cleaned up and the glass and bike parts, though."

"Yup. Looks pretty normal." Hyde looked around a final time before getting back into the car. "If you didn't know, you'd never know."

Kelso took up his place behind the wheel. "Nothin', huh?"

"Nope."

Kelso started the car, and Hyde started the radio. Hyde asked Kelso if he still wanted to get burgers, so Kelso started in the direction of the nearest Fatso Burger. After a few minutes of driving the sun was nearly set. "You gotta admit," said Kelso, "this street's got a nice view of the sunset."

* * *

The next day, WB invited Steven to join him for lunch.

"When you said you picked out the restaraunt, I was imagining a country club," Steven said as they took their seats in the sports bar.

"Just because I'm rich doesn't mean I have to be square. I'll take you to the country club one day, then you'll see why I never go there for fun."

"I think I got the picture."

"You've never felt the need to rub elbows with the rich and boring," WB said, amused.

"Maybe to try to steal their watch. But those days are behind me."

A waiter came by to get their drink orders, and WB ordered a water for himself and a beer for each of them, then corrected himself. "I'm sorry, you still can't drink, can you?"

"Nope. Thanks for reminding me." He turned to the waiter, "I'll have a rootbeer."

The waiter left, and WB said, "I should have thought about that before taking you to a bar."

"Don't sweat it, man."

WB pretended to skim the menu before asking, "so how are you doing?"

"Good, I guess." Steven mirrored him, looking at his own menu.

"Yeah? You're looking good."

"Nah, I look like an idiot." The younger man looked up. "But thanks."

"Anything interesting been going on with you?"

"Are you kidding me, man? I'm bored outta my mind. If you want me back to work, I'll go back tomorrow."

WB chuckled. "No, that's alright, you take off as long as you need."

"I'm not joking." He leaned forward. "Mrs. Forman, Jackie, random girls in the store - they all look at me the way I look at Forman or Kelso when they're crazy drunk, you know, like right before they fall over. Except less excited. More anxious. I gotta get out of the house."

"You want to get back to work?"

"Yeah."

WB took a deep breath, hesitating. "I really think you should wait a while..."

"I'm doing as good now as I will be next week. And my head's not messed up anymore, so I can hold a conversation for more than five seconds without zoning out."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." He was going to cave. As a dad, he always caved. "I want a doctor saying that you can go back to work. If you can make that happen, then you can start again."

"Sweet." Steven leaned back. "I'll get on that."

The waiter came with their drinks, got their food orders, left, and so the conversation turned to offhanded small talk. They spent the meal sharing stories from before they met, getting to know each other more. WB talked more about Angie, and his childhood. Steven talked about some of his craziest high school escapades. They both briefly talked about Edna. There was a lot of ground to cover, and time went by quickly.

After paying the check, WB drove Steven back to the Forman's, pulling up in front of the house. Finally, they said their goodbyes for the day, with Steven confidently promising he'd get a doctor's clearance to go back to Grooves, at least part time.

WB smiled. "You do that."

* * *

When he entered through the front door, Hyde discovered that the lights were off. "Mrs. Forman? Red?" Receiving no answer, he ventured into the kitchen to look into the driveway. He didn't see any cars, but the garage door was shut, so it was possible at least one car belonging to the family was there. "Forman? You home?" It wasn't like Forman had a job, but he could very well be out with Donna, or getting lunch at The Hub with the rest of the gang. He didn't mind this, though. It would be nice to have some peace and quiet with the house all to himself. Upon thinking that, he couldn't help but be reminded of Red.

Eager to have a reason to get more time away from everyone (Red would be proud), he decided now was as good a time as any to call his doctor. It wasn't until he was standing before the phone that he realized he didn't know the number. Surely Kitty had it written down somewhere. He thought for a moment, wondering where to look, and then he got an idea; it was probably listed on the label of the perscription bottle, which was currently in his room.

As he started for the stairs, he thought back to his mini road trip with Kelso the prior day. He pictured the road again, remembered looking at, and lying on it a week before. And as he stepped onto the fourth step, his memory rewound, and he could remember the crash - just like that. Taken off guard and distracted by this revelation midstep, he misstepped. Suddenly, he was falling head-first. It felt like having an ocean wave crash on you: getting sucked under and flipped around until finally you're spat onto the shore, too disoriented to know where you've washed up.

He landed on the floor with a thud, inches from where the crutch had falled to. He laid motionless, arms sprawled out in front of him, trying to get his bearings. _Breath, you idiot._ He inhaled, out of breath and panting, for what felt like a very long time. It could have been ten minutes, perhaps it was half an hour. He wasn't sure. Lying on the basement floor, he couldn't help but be reminded of lying on the street. It felt too similar. He was definitely in pain, but it was nothing compared to falling off a motorcycle. Picking up his head, he spotted a few drops of blood on the ground, so he rubbed his face, trying to find the source. Either his nose or lip was bleeding. He thought about something Angie had said, just after the EMTs had put him on a stretcher; _don't look._ There had been a lot of blood then.

Eventually he staggered over to the sofa. Again, he lay trying to catch his breath and dazed. Tiny droplets of blood were falling onto his shirt, but he didn't notice or care. _He could remember the crash!_ Hyde was engrossed in the memory, playing it over and over again in his mind. He closed his eyes.

Some time later he heard voices, and the sound of the doorknob being turned, so he prepared himself for whoever was on the other side to realize what had happened and smugly announce "I told you so." Maybe Jackie was right. Maybe he was becoming accident prone - but he still didn't want his idiot friends feeling justified in their concern. Man, he hated when they were right.

* * *

 **A/N: End of part one of the part I kept planning that week I was sick. I know flow wise it should probably be later, but screw it, I'm impatient. I don't want to spoil things for you, but all I'll say in reguards to the fall is don't worry. Take that as you will. Anyways, next chapter we'll have some more Hyde and Kelso interactions, among others. I really enjoyed writing them together in the first part. The kettlehead is fun. Thank you so much for your continued support and stay tuned! Until next time, have a fantastic day!**


	13. Broken Record

"She was _too_ checking me out," Kelso said to Donna as they walked down the outdoor steps to Eric's basement.

"She was not," Donna countered.

"Trust me, Donna, I know what being checked out looks like. Of course, I don't care, cause I got Angie now and she's totally hot."

"Yeah, I'm sure you weren't flattered at all, that's why you're still talking about it."

They reached the door at the bottom of the staircase and Donna turned the knob. She walked inside first, and before Kelso could follow her in, she turned back around and put a hand to her face, saying "oh my god!"

"What?" Kelso barged past her and saw Hyde, his shirt and lower part of his face covered in blood. "Dude, it looks like you ate somebody!" Kelso said to him.

Alarmed, Donna turned back around and asked, "What happened?"

Hyde pointed to the stairs behind him.

"You fell down the stairs?"

Hyde nodded. "I only tripped be-"

"Here." Donna cut him off, handing him a wad of tissues she pulled from a box on the table. "Are you okay? Of course you're not okay, you look like Fez after that cherry pie eating contest."

Hyde said, "I've been worse," and pressed the tissues to his nose. "Kelso's my witness to that."

Kelso made a face. "Dude, I think your nose is broken."

Hyde shook his head. He was out of breath.

This was bad, Donna told herself. She should probably be calling an ambulance. Hyde would kill her, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Still, noses could bleed a lot. Maybe he was fine beyond that. But of course, considering the guy had a couple of broken bones already, this was unlikely. Donna leaned down and said to him, quietly so that Kelso couldn't overhear, "seriously, are you alright?"

"Think so."

Hyde was an unreliable source. He would always say he was fine. But of course, if he ever didn't, then she would really worry. "You're breathing funny," she pointed out.

"Like, ha ha funny?"

Donna rolled her eyes at him.

Hyde sighed, then winced. "Yeah, my side's killing me. But-"

"When I asked you if you were fine, that would..." Donna shook her head. "Whatever, where do you keep your pills?"

"On my bed."

She quickly went to his room to retrieve them, and returned just as fast. She took off the cap off the orange bottle. Hyde set down the tissues and took it from her. He poured out several pills onto his shirt (Donna didn't see how many), then gave her back the bottle, picked up the pills, and swallowed them.

"Keep holding the tissues to your nose," she instructed.

"Yes, _mom_." At least he was in the mood for sarcasm and jokes. That was a good sign. Or just Hyde being his unwavering self. He coughed, and his two friends looked at him with concern. "Kelso, aren't you going to give me shit for this?"

Kelso said, "friends getting hurt is only funny when they're not, like, _bad_ hurt."

"It's not bad." As if on cue, he coughed harder, this time coughing up a small amount of blood. "Okay, so it looks bad."

"I think we should drive you to a hospital."

"Donna," Hyde said, "don't freak out."

She turned to Kelso. "Kelso, are you freaked out?"

"Yeah," Kelso said reluctantly, drawing out the word. "Sorry, Hyde."

"Okay, we're both worried, so I'm going to call Kitty, and then we'll drive."

"It's because I've been swallowing nose blood," Hyde argued as she started walking upstairs. "C'mon, Donna." She kept walking, despite protests of "snitches get stitches, Pinciotti."

Why were all of her friends so immature?

* * *

"If you broke your face, Jackie's going to be pissed," Kelso told Hyde.

"Yeah, well it's my face, not hers." He stopped to catch his breath. "But if I broke anything else, _I'm_ going to be pissed." He dropped tissues to rub the side of his broken rib. "There was this time in middle school." He stopped again. "I got in a fight with this kid who wouldn't lay off Forman." And again. "Beat him up real bad, got detention for two weeks." He wiped his nose with his arm. Coughed.

Kelso felt like he was in one of those war movie scenes, where the best friend gives a dying speech right after he's been shot. _Man, it would be fun to be a movie star,_ he thought, then tuned back in.

Hyde continued, pausing every few words to take sharp breaths, "we both ended up pretty messed up, though. So I show up at school the next day all black and blue. And Jackie says she bet Edna pushed me down the stairs, and I'm like 'what stairs, man? We only got the one floor.'"

Kelso shook his head solemnly. "Who would have thought back then that one day you'd steal her from me?"

Hyde put the tissues back to his face, which muffled his voice as he spoke. "For the last time, I didn't steal her from you."

"You sound like Darth Vader." Kelso pointed at him with a smile. "Luke," he said, doing his own best Vader impression, "I am your father!"

They could hear Donna's feet on the stairs as she rejoined them. "Kitty's waiting for us. Time for another hospital adventure."

"Joy," Hyde said, getting up slowly. "I can get another notch in my hospital punch card. Maybe next time they'll throw in free ice cream." In crossing to the stairs, he noticed the small amount of blood on the floor he had neglected to wipe up. "Crap, I have to clean up this blood before Jackie or Forman sees."

"I'll deal with it after we drop you off," Donna offered, "but you owe me."

"How much?"

"I don't know. Ten dollars. More if I get any on me. Are you ready or what?"

"Yeah, uh..." Hyde looked around thoughtfully, then limped back to grab another pill. "One more for the road. Alright, let's get this over with."

"Should we put those up somewhere?" Kelso asked. Brooke had made him learn all about baby proofing before Betsy was born, and one thing he had learned was to keep medicine and all dangerous stuff on high shelves or locked away.

"No, it's not like there's a dog who would eat them," Donna said. "Speaking of which, whatever happened to Schatzi?"

All three tilted their heads at this mystery, then shrugged it off. That was one mystery not even Kelso could get to the bottom of.

Accompanying his friend upstairs, Kelso said, "damn Hyde, I don't know what kind of stuff you did for all this bad karma, but I think the universe is mad at you or something."

"Yeah, I don't know, maybe I punched a baby in my sleep. The universe can suck-" He was cut off by his own coughing.

"I'm glad you didn't finish that sentence," said Donna with an eye roll.

Hyde smirked back at her with cocked eyebrows. As the trio made their way to the car, he said, "do me a favor and don't tell Jackie about this mess."

"God, you need so many favors," Kelso teased.

Donna had a different reaction. "You want to tell her yourself?"

"Hell no. Not if I don't have to."

"You're just going to lie to her and pretend nothing happened? I think she's going to notice when you come back with a face cast."

"It won't be lying if I'm fine, which I will be."

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll see it that way."

Kelso agreed with his red haired friend. "Donna's right, man; chicks don't like it when you don't tell them stuff."

"What, like when you cheat on them with half of Point Place?" Hyde said.

"Uh!" Kelso let his jaw drop.

Donna declared this a burn, and the three of them piled into Kelso's convertible.

As Kelso pulled out of the drive way, Hyde asked, "do you know how to get there?"

"Yeah, dude." Kelso looked at him through the rear view mirror. "I drove to it a hundred times last week."

"Oh yeah," Hyde said. He grunted as he reached for the seat belt, opting to let go of it. His breathing was loud enough for Kelso to hear. "Hey," he continued, "something kind of cool happened before I fell."

Donna turned around in the passenger seat to face him. "Save your breath, Hyde. Okay, that came out wrong. I mean it literally. You sound like that weird blond girl from gym class after we'd run laps."

"Oh, the girl with the giant glasses and the inhaler?" Kelso said. "Yeah, she was weird. She was in that chorus with Fez that that asshole British guy taught, which is totally weird because I don't know how you can sing if you breath like a pug."

"She had a face like a pug too," Hyde commented.

Donna shot back, "you're one to be criticizing faces right now, Rocky."

"Broken nose or not, I'm still doing better than that chick."

"Seriously, you're way out of breath. And besides, cut her some slack. It's hard being a girl. Guys give you so much crap for how you dress, or curl your hair, or...everything."

Kelso raised his eyebrows. "Guys and _Jackie_."

"Hey," Hyde said.

"What, it's true. I was with her for years man, and she's a great girl, but she's judgey as hell."

"She had good enough judgement not to stay with you."

Kelso gasped.

"Okay, you two," Donna said, "no cat fights. Although that was a sweet burn, Hyde."

Kelso corrected her, "it was a hurtful burn."

Hyde rolled his eyes. "That's the point, moron." He sniffled. "Ugh."

"It's not still bleeding," said Donna, "is it?"

"Yeah. Like a faucet."

"Damn, Hyde," Kelso said. "Don't get any blood on my seat."

"I'll keep the, uh...tie dyeing to my shirt."

"Thanks, buddy."

"Didn't you get this car at a police auction? It's probably had blood in it," Donna said. Then, with a smirk: "it's probably haunted."

Kelso laughed. "Of course it's not haunted, Donna. I already checked before I bought it. What, you think I'd buy a haunted car with a baby to take care of? No way. That'd be bad parenting. No one is getting spooked by any ghosts on my watch."

There was a short pause, and then Donna yelled "boo!"

Kelso flinched in surprise. "Damn it, Donna! I thought we talked about this, no spooks while I'm driving!"

* * *

"Donna? Kelso?" Eric was not expecting to find his friends in his basement when he returned home, since not a single resident of the house had been there. "What are you guys doing?" He stood on the top step, watching Donna scrub at the floor with a towel. "What is that?"

"We're just cleaning up a murder," said Kelso, who was perched on the back of the sofa. "I already buried the body in your backyard."

"Wait, is that blood?"

"Wow, you catch on fast," Donna said. "We didn't kill anybody, for the record."

"What a relief," Eric said. "Here I was thinking my basement was fugative central. Did one of you get hurt?" Michael Kelso was known for accidentally injuring himself (especially in the eyes) regularly. " _Kelso_?"

"I didn't do it! It's Hyde's gross nose blood."

"He said he tripped down the stairs," Donna elaborated.

"Is he okay? He's not the body you buried, is he?"

Donna sighed. "He says he's fine."

"Of course he does."

"We just dropped him off at the hospital. He said he'd call with an update when he could."

"Which I'm looking forward to," Kelso said, "because me and him made a bet. I got five bucks on his nose being broken. Donna votes ribs, but she didn't want to bet anything."

Donna ran her hand through her hair. "It felt dirty making bets on how hurt my friend is. Even though I would win those five dollars. Oh, and another thing, he says we can't tell Jackie about this, which I think is wrong, but whatever."

A new voice entered the room. "Don't tell Jackie what?"

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you so much to everyone for reading, and to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed last chapter! You guys are the best. The next chapter will be out very, very soon, and then you'll all get to see who wins the bet, and if Jackie finds out. I hope you guys liked this chapter, and that there was a good mix of jokes and drama. Please review, and I'll see you guys soon! Have a lovely day!**


	14. Double or Nothing

**A/N: Hi everyone! This chapter is the longest yet, because I got carried away writing Eric/Hyde banter. I hope you enjoy reading it!**

* * *

"Don't tell Jackie what?"

Donna, Kelso, and Eric turned to face Jackie as she entered the basement, closely followed by Fez. They eached carried a small shopping bag.

"Uh..." Eric and Donna looked at each other, each trying to think of a lie.

Surprisingly to them, it was Kelso who came up with an answer. "I took him out to the spot where he wrecked, uh..."

Jackie crossed her arms. "Why would you do that?"

"Because he asked me to."

"And he didn't want me to know?"

"No."

"Is this about me being dramatic again? I don't know where he got that idea. Where is he?"

"Um-" Eric jumped in, "-he's doing some paperwork with Angie."

"Oh. Okay, then. So Donna," Jackie tucked herself in beside the taller girl. "Fez and I were just checking out this amazing sale on hair care products, and being charitable and all I got you a little something - you're welcome, no need to thank me..." And yet she looked expectantly at her.

"Thank you, Jackie."

"You're welcome! But anyway, I forgot my key in our room, so I can't put it away. Can I borrow yours?"

"Sure." Donna pulled out a house key and gave it to her.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to come with me?"

"Um, I thought girls only had to accompany each other to the bathroom."

"No! Oh, Donna, no. You need to come with me, because I need to demonstrate your amazing new hair products. I'll make it look so pretty. Eric, don't you think Donna should let me fix up her hair?"

"Well..." Eric knew there wasn't a good answer to this, but it might be good to get Jackie out of the room for a while. "Yeah, maybe...maybe you could go with her and I'll, you know, maybe make a call to see when I need to pick up...that...pizza?"

"Oh, right. The _pizza_ ," Donna said. "Yeah, come on, Jackie, I'll be your styling head."

"Yay!" Jackie grabbed Donna's hand and eagerly led her away.

Fez said to Eric, "can we can anchovies and mushrooms on the pizza?"

"We're not really getting a pizza, Fez," Eric said. "I just said that because I need to call Hyde, but I don't want Jackie knowing what's really going on."

"What is going on?"

Kelso explained, "Hyde got himself hurt again. He was all covered in blood because he fell on his face. It was super nasty, I almost got some on me, and this shirt was expensive. Anyway, we took him to the hospital, but he doesn't want Jackie to know about it."

Fez shook his head. "Jackie will not like that."

"Yeah, especially now that we _all_ know but her," Eric agreed. "But I'm not getting in the middle of that."

Kelso nodded. "Yeah, that's a Hyde problem. It's going to be fun to watch when she finds out. After all the times he set me up so she'd be mad at me, it's about time I get some of that karma back. That's how karma works, right?"

Fez clucked his tongue. "Oh Kelso, you beautiful idiot."

* * *

A couple hours later, Eric heard the phone ringing, and quickly abandoned Fez and Kelso in the basement to dash upstairs. Luckily the girls hadn't come back yet. Granted, Eric wasn't sure if Donna was really good at stalling, or if she got kidnapped into a shopping adventure with Jackie.

He picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Forman?" Hyde's voice came from the other end.

"Yeah. Hey, Hyde."

"Hey."

There was a long pause, and so Eric spoke again. "Uh, Hyde?"

"Yeah?"

Even though Hyde couldn't see him, Eric tossed up a hand in confusion. "What's going on? I heard you took a nosedive down the stairs." Eric patted himself on the back for this nasal wordplay.

"Uh, I'm just sitting around with your mom. Well - she was here, she's gone now."

"Okay...so, do you - do you have news, or do you need me to pick you up?"

"Yes! Exactly, man. That was it. I'm all cleared to leave."

"Alright, cool. So, what did the doctor say?"

"He said I could leave, so get your ass over here."

"Yeah, I got that part. I mean, what about - like, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm great."

Eric doubted that. "Whatever you say. I'll leave now."

There was a tiny pause, and then the sound of Hyde's line hanging up. "Bye to you too," Eric said the phone. "What the hell?"

* * *

As Eric pulled the Vista Cruiser in front of the hospital (with a sense of deja vu), he spotted his mom standing close to Hyde, who was once again in a wheelchair. The latter was staring up at the clouds, and Eric couldn't help but smile as it reminded him of the conversation they had had in the hospital room right before Hyde was released the last time.

"Thank you for coming, honey," Kitty said to her son as he stepped out of the car.

"No problem. So, uh...how are you doing, man?" He looked quizzically at Hyde.

Kitty said before Hyde could answer, "he's on a lot of pain killers."

"Hell yeah, I am!" Hyde said happily.

"And suddenly that phone call makes sense." Eric nodded, and put his hands in his pockets. "So other than being high as a kite, how are you? You look like an extra from a slasher film."

"Forman..." Hyde, for once not wearing sunglasses, stared wide eyed at Eric.

"Yeah?"

A small smile crept onto his face as he shook his head. "I don't feel anything."

"What else is new?" Eric smirked.

Suddenly, Hyde's expression changed from one of amusement to concentration. "Wait, wait, wait, I have to do something."

"What?"

"I have to punch you; we had a rule about this."

Eric wasn't sure whether to find this funny or tiring. "That rule expired earlier today. I can ask how you are, because it's a separate accident."

"Damn it, you're right."

He was definitely leaning towards finding it funny. "Okay, buddy, let's get you in the car."

Hyde smirked. "I call driving."

Eric raised his eyebrows. If the kid with a cast and sling was asking to drive, he must have been administered one hell of a painkiller. "How high are you?"

"It's a _joke_ , Forman, _damn_."

He rolled his eyes, then helped his friend into the car. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

"Where am I supposed to go?"

"Just one minute." Eric closed the passenger door and went back to his mother. "This is going to be an interesting car ride," he said offhandedly. "Other than being loopy, how is he?" Why was that such a hard question? "Kelso said he thought he broke his nose."

Kitty shook her head. "Oh, no, his nose is not broken, it was just a bad bleed. They cauterized it, so that's all fixed up."

"What does that mean?"

Hyde added from the open window of the car, "they stuck sticks up my nose." Eric's look at him was met with a smirk. "What? Oh, sorry, were you trying to talk about me? Should have rolled up the window, man. I'm like a foot away."

"Hyde-" Eric sighed. "Just - whatever. So what did the doctor say, then?"

"I told you, I'm fine," Hyde continued. "It's like your stupid magic trick; there's no reason it should've ended up this way, but it did."

"Steven, sweetheart," Kitty said, "you broke two more ribs."

Eric gaped at Hyde. "Dude!"

"Whatever," Hyde said nonchalantly, "ribs don't count, because you can't put a cast on them or anything, so they might as well not be broken. Same thing."

Eric looked at his adoptive brother in disbelief. "That's not the same thing...at all!"

"Eh." Hyde waved his hand dismissively. "Already got one broken one, what difference does a couple more make."

Eric made a mental note to bring this up once the painkillers had worn off and Hyde no longer "felt nothing."

Kitty, hands on hips, shook her head at her sons. "Alright, boys, I've got to get back to work, but I'll be home in just a few hours to make you dinner. Steven, honey, do you remember what I told you?"

"I don't know, you've said a lot of things to me, Mrs. Forman."

Kitty sighed and, giving up on talking to Steven, turned her attention to Eric. "Makes sure he rests, and he needs to ice twenty minutes every hour. And I do not want him going up and down from the basement. We don't need any more accidents."

He felt like a babysitter getting instructions from the parent. "I got it, Mom."

"Okay." She gave him a hug. "I'll see you tonight. Drive carfully."

"I will." He crossed to the driver's side of the car and opened the door. "Bye."

He got into the car, shut the door, and put his seat belt on. "Hyde, seat belt," he reminded his friend.

"Why?"

"I think it's a law."

"You always were sucker for laws."

"Yeah, I guess I just like not being in jail."

"You need to loosen up. Like when you let Leo give you that tattoo on your ass. That was funny, man."

"Funny to _you_ , you don't have a little yellow bird on your ass."

Hyde laughed at this, but his laugh turned into a groan, and he leaned back in his seat.

"So you don't feel anything, huh?" Forman said sarcastically, wearing his favorite wise-guy smile.

"Shut it."

"Anyway, with you basically covered in blood, there's a good chance we're going to get pulled over, so just buckle up."

"Ugh." He reached for the seat belt. "Why are you people always bossing me around? You, and Donna, and Red, and Jackie..." he trailed off. "And the government. The man. Mrs. Forman. Jackie." He pulled the belt across himself, and snapped the buckle into place. As soon as he was settled, he winced and jabbed at the buckle to take off the seat belt. " That hurts like hell, and I'm not putting up with that crap."

Eric started the car. "Alright, but if we get pulled over, it's on you."

"What do you bet the chances are we get pulled over by Kelso?"

"I can't believe Kelso is a cop. And has a baby! Damn, Kelso's done more with his life than I have, what the hell?"

"To be fair, both of those things were a mistake on somebody's part."

"It's a shame Kelso's not here to hear that burn."

"That's okay, I burned him to his face earlier." Hyde reached for the radio and changed the station until he found classic rock. "Nice."

"You actually have Kelso to thank for keeping Jackie in the dark on this."

"Are you going to tell me that's a bad idea, too?"

"I definitely think it's a stupid idea, but if you want to cause a fight between you and your girlfriend, I won't stop you. I might pop some popcorn. On the other hand though, I feel like you're already screwed enough without getting Jackie pissed at you, so maybe you should tell her."

"I know I should tell her, but then she's just going to give me that 'poor baby' puppy dog look and want to wrap me in bubble wrap."

"If we wrapped in in bubble wrap, you'd have two less broken ribs."

"Hindsight's a pain in the ass. The doc looked at me like I was an idiot, because there's this easier way to go down stairs with a broken leg, and he said he told it to me when I was there originally, so I just said 'sorry, man, I don't know what to tell you.' Am I an idiot?"

"You're definitely not Kelso level, and hey, you did better than me on the SATs."

"The SATs test is bull. I'm talking...like, I know we do a lot of dumb stuff on purpose, because it's fun, but am I _dumb_?"

This was a conversation they most certainly would not be having were Hyde not drugged. "You're a little less dumb sober. They gave you the good stuff, huh?"

"Oh, it's good, man, but they didn't give me anything."

" _That_ is bull."

"It's the truth. Donna gave me my pills to take, so I took them."

"How many?"

"Four or five. Four, I think. Anyway, it wasn't enough to hurt me, but they still didn't want to give me anything on top of it."

"Aren't those things, like, crazy addictive?"

"Are they? I can see why. I told you the medical institution is a scam, Forman. If they get you hooked on drugs, then you'll have to keep shelling out money to the pharmaceutical companies."

"That's a nice theory, Hyde. Except the pharmacy won't give you any drugs if your perscription is up."

"Oh. Right. Well, I can't get hooked on anything or Red will kick me out again. Should I stop taking the pills?"

"No, man, you're fine. Just keep taking them like you're supposed to."

"Cool." Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" came on the radio, and Hyde turned up the volume. "Man, I love this song." He sang along, " _Sitting on a park bench..."_

* * *

Once home, Eric wheeled Hyde into the living room.

Hyde wondered allowed, "did I leave the crutch at the hospital?"

"I don't know if you're going to need it."

"What do you mean, I can only use one friggin' leg."

"Yeah, but after today, I think my mom is going to win the age old wheelchair versus crutch debate."

"Crap."

"Sorry, man." Eric handed him a bag of frozen wrapped in a towel that he'd carried in from the kitchen. "She said you needed to use ice."

"I'm telling you, man, it doesn't hurt, but alright." He took the bag, lifted his shirt, and pressed it to his chest.

Eric said, "all that blood is creeping me out, so I'm going to get you a different shirt. And a wet towel."He left the room, grabbed a random shirt from Hyde's room that was hopefully clean, and brought back both that and a soaked paper towel. Hyde took the paper towel and started wiping all of the dried blood off of himself.

"So, what happened?" Eric asked.

"Are you going to tell me to shut up like your girlfriend did?"

"No. Why did Donna tell you to shut up?"

"I don't know. I coughed up blood, and she thought I was dying or something."

"God, Hyde."

"I'm not dying, calm down. The nurses were scared too, so I barely had to wait, which was pretty cool. I think I'll make it into a party trick."

Eric put his head in his hands and sighed. "Okay, we all get it, you laugh in the face of death."

"Jackie was giving me shit for something like that before the surgery. I must be even more the master of zen than I thought. Hmm." He traced the outline of a scribble on his cast with his finger. "Right before I face planted, I remembered crashing my motorcycle."

"Wait, really?" Eric sat on the edge of his seat. "You're serious?"

Hyde nodded.

"Well - what happened?"

"There were leaves on the road," Hyde said.

"And?"

"And...that's it. I drove over the leaves, and lost traction, and fell to the side. Then I was knocked out."

Eric sat back in his seat. "All you did was drive over some leaves?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"Yeah." Hyde nodded slowly. And then, because the painkiller still had not worn off, he burst out laughing. "Leaves, man." He wiped his eye. "It hurts to laugh," he said, still smiling. He reapplied the makeshift ice pack, and steadied his breath. "Leaves! I'm an idiot."

* * *

 **A/N: See, I didn't totally break him again. There is a reason for this whole stair thing though, and you'll see it next chapter when WB makes another appearance. You'll see how long Jackie's kept in the dark. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review if you did! Have a lovely day, readers.**


	15. Movin' On Up

"That's insanse," Eric said.

"It's the dumbest crap you've ever heard, right?" There was still a trace of a smile on Hyde's lips. He scoffed and shook his head. "Leaves. _Leaves._ 'Oh, look at the leaves, autumn is so cool! Can't wait for all of the costumes and leaf piles and shit.'"

"Hyde...?"

"What?" Hyde said, his voice suddenly tense.

Eric raised an eyebrow. "You're...not exactly..." _Making sense. Being normal._

"I'm making as much sense as I want to make," Hyde snapped.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know." Hyde rubbed his forehead. "Damn. I think I'm fnally starting to understand Leo more, man. Listen, if I'm not making any sense, tune me out. I'll probably crash pretty soon. _Or..._ "

"Or?"

"We could bust out my stash. Both be whacked out of our minds. You know-" The curly haired boy shifted on the couch so that'd he'd be more upright, "-I can't take any more pills until tomorrow. Im definitely going to come down before then. We should totally smoke tonight."

"I don't know, man."

"What, do you have other plans? Another hot date with your dolls?"

"First of all, they're action figures-"

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to somebody who cares."

Eric stood up and paced a few steps aroud the livingroom. "So, uh, Hyde - if you can remember everything now...what was it like?"

"It was cool," Hyde said matter-of-factly. "I was having a good time, man. You should try it sometime, if you ever get the chance. Learn from my mistakes, and practice in a parking lot first. I should ask WIB if he has a picture of it. I broke a perfectly good bike, man."

"Yeah, but like, what about the...whole crashing part? You know. The attack of the rogue leaves?"

Hyde scratched his head, contemplating. "Less cool. It sucked." He plucked at the stained shirt he had yet to change out of. "It's the suck fest that keeps on sucking."

* * *

As Kitty Forman entered the kitchen, she was not expecting to find one of her kids in the room before her. Steven, with his head resting on his left arm, was fast asleep at the table. She sighed, and debated whether or not to wake him up and instruct him to relocate to the den, where his cot had been moved last night. What was he even doing sleeping in the kitchen?

She was about to let him be and start making pancakes when she noticed he was shivering. Not only that, but his breathing was even. Suddenly, she went into nurse mode (although Eric would argue mom mode and nurse mode were the same thing), and marched over to him, placing a hand on his forehead. As soon as she did, he stirred, slowly sitting up, then moving his own hand to his chest with a groan.

"What's going on?" he asked, his voice groggy.

"You're sleeping at the kitchen table," she said. "You tell me what's going on."

"I wasn't asleep."

"Are you sure?" She put her hands on her hips. "If not, you were doing an awfully good impression of someone sleeping."

He rubbed at his eyes, which were rimmed with dark circles. "I'm a very skilled impressionist."

"Uh huh."

"Maybe I was asleep. That'd be cool with me."

"But honey, what are you doing in here this early? Why aren't you in bed?"

"I tried sleeping." This didn't clarify the situation for Kitty, but she was used to brief half-answers.

"Do you feel sick?" That would be the very last thing he needed.

Steven tilted his head. "What?"

"I noticed you were shivering."

He raised his eyebrows. "Don't worry, I'm not sick." He reached under his shirt and pulled out two melted ice packs. "Like I said, I couldn't sleep."

Kitty's face fell. "Oh, Steven..."

"It's nothing, Mrs. Forman. Really."

She frowned. "Okay." With Steven, it was better not to push a subject. She'd learned that by now. "Do you want pancakes? I was just about to make some."

"No, thanks, Mrs. Forman, I'm good."

"Are you sure? I can make toast and eggs instead, or we could have cereal, or-"

Steven put up his hand. "I'm fine. Seriously. I'm...just gonna..." He put his head back on the table.

She shook her head at the sight, and dashed out of the room to bring him a blanket. "Here, if you're going to turn my kitchen table into a bed, you might as well be comfortable." _And warmed up to stop that shivering._ When no response came, Kitty figured he had fallen back asleep already, and started pulling out the pancake ingredients.

Quietly, she mixed the dry and wet ingredients together. As she poured the batter into the pan for the first pancake, she was reminded of years earlier. When her kids were much younger, she'd make them pancakes in fun shapes: an _L_ for Laurie, _E_ for Eric, Micky Mouse ears. A blobby shape that was either a flower or a cloud, she and Laurie never agreed on which. She was tempted to make an _E_ and an _S_. Maybe even an _R_. She had just added the third pancake to the stack when Red came in.

"Good morning, Handsome!" She placed a quick peck on his cheek.

"Morning," he said, with a small grin only Kitty would know to recognize as a smile. "Would you look at these pancakes. That one sure is...interesting." His gaze fell on the _S_ topping the alphabetized stack.

"It's an _S_ ," she explained, nodding her head towards the table, "for Steven."

Red'd eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the boy for a good, long minute. "Steven-" he finally said firmly, sounding as if he was about to give an order.

In a hushed voice, Kitty said "he's asleep."

"What for? You made me haul his bed into the den last night."

"Oh, leave him be. I think he had a rough night."

"He had a rough night? When I was in Korea-"

She put her hands on her hips, knowing exactly where this was going. "Red."

"Fine. But if he's not going to sleep in my den, I'm having Eric move all of his crap somewhere else. Speak of the devil!" Red exclaimed as their son entered the room. "Eric, have I got a job for you."

Kitty matched her husband's devious smile with a more genuine one. "Good morning, honey! How did you sleep?"

"Fine." Eric walked past his parents to the table. "Ah, man, I missed the 'bring your blanket to breakfast' memo."

"Let him sleep," Kitty said. "Who's ready for pancakes?"

She finished flipping the final pancake, and carried a plate for each (awake) member of her family to the table. They shared pleasant chatter as they ate. Well, a mix of chatter and smart-mouthed comments between her husband and son. They were halfway through the meal when Steven stirred.

"It's...it's...it's alive!" Eric said theatrically as Steven sat up with a groan.

Red asked, "how ya doin' Steven? Not still doped up like last night, are you?" According to Red, he'd had a very _interesting_ conversation with Steven when he'd gotten home from work the previous night.

"No. My dope days are behind me, Red," Steven said. Kitty caught her sons sharing some kind of bemused look. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have painkillers for breakfast."

* * *

After taking his morning dose of pills, Hyde drifted in and out of sleep for another two hours. In the early afternoon, Eric joined him in Red's den, and they split a bag of potato chips while they talked ("the lunch of champions," Hyde called it.)

"So," Eric said, "while you were alseep, Jackie tried to come over, but Donna distracted her. I don't think she'll last long, though. Jackie was talking about some kind of Barbie doll convention."

"Man, I already owe Donna ten dollars. She better not add that to my tab."

"So, are you really not going to tell Jackie?"

"Nah, I'll tell her."

"Really? After we did such a good job lying to her for you? What changed your mind, man?"

Hyde lifted his shirt to show off new bruises. "These."

"Damn, Hyde."

"Yep. The leaves aren't the only things changing colors."

"Oh, yeah, you going to tell her about that too?"

"I figure it'll just be easier to get get up on the roof, pull out a megaphone, and tell all of Point Place at once. Get it out of the way."

Eric clucked his tongue. "Aw, but man - you can't get onto the roof with a broken leg."

"Damn it, you're right. Guess I'll just have to round them all up in an auditorium then." The two shared a smirk. "I don't know what it matters, man. If it comes up, whatever, but otherwise...who cares?"

"My dad will probably care; it'll give him something new and fun to yell at you for when he's complaining about medical bills."

"I'm at least going to tell Kelso so he'll stop going around telling people I have amnesia."

" _Hey, Hyde,_ " Eric said in his best imination of Kelso, " _what's your name?_ "

Hyde scoffed. "I can't believe out of the two of us, I'm the one who's had a brain injury."

"We don't know that," Eric said. "Maybe Kelso was dropped on his head a bunch of times as a baby and can't remember it."

"Moron." Hyde smirked, shaking his head fondly.

Eric gabbed a handful of chips and popped them into his mouth. "He did save your ass with Jackie though," he said, crumbs flying out of his mouth. "She almost caught us red handed, but Kelso told her something about taking you to the road where you crashed."

Hyde nodded and shoved the last potato chips into his mouth.

"Wait," Eric said curiously, "did that actually happen?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. How was that?"

"I don't know. Kind of boring."

"Seriously? I think it'd be kind of freaky."

"Yeah, well it wasn't. 'Course, that was before I remembered everything." He sat quietly for a moment, thinking. "Nah, I think it would still be boring if I went back again. It's a boring road. There's nothing left to see."

"God, you're like made of stone." Just then, the phone rang. "I'll get it," Eric said, standing up.

"Obviously," Hyde said.

Eric made his way to the kitchen, where he grabbed the phone from its receptor. "Forman residence, Eric speaking," he said, wondering immediatly why he had chosen to use the decidedly awkward phrase his parents had taught him when they first deemed him old enough to answer phones.

"Hello, Eric. Barnett residence this end, WB speaking." Eric could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Is Steven around?"

"Yeah, he's in the other room. I'll go get him."

"No, that's alright. I told him yesterday he could go back to work if a doctor cleared him. I was just following up on that. Do you know if he's sorted that out yet?"

"Uh, I don't know. Probably not. Well - maybe. He did...see a doctor yesterday. You know what? He should talk to you about this."

Eric went to inform Hyde, and a minute later he was waiting at the kitchen table, listening to Hyde's side of the conversation.

"Hey, WB." Hyde started, followed by a short pause. "Yeah, uh, about that... I'm not going to be cleared for a couple more days... I definitely do, man, but... No, I do. Yeah. So the thing is, I kind of broke a couple of ribs yesterday."

Eric wondered what WB said during the ensuing pause, and if maybe he shouldn't be eavesdropping. But he continued to, anyway.

Hyde spoke quickly. "No, no, no, I'm fine. It's all cool, man. No worries. I fell down some stairs... Only a couple hours. Couple x-rays. Nothing else broken... No, my head's fine. Nah, it's all fine. Everything's good. You know...I'm grounded in the most literal sense of the word, and the bathroom's on the second floor, so I'm going to have to hold it for, like...weeks. But otherwise, good. Hmm? Yeah, sure, that'd be cool. Alright. See you around." Hyde looked at the receiver on the wall. "Forman."

"Yeah?"

"I can't reach the receiver."

Eric stood up and replaced the phone. "Are you going to convince my mom to give you the crutch back?"

"No. That thing would suck three times as worse, it ain't worth it. I'll deal."

"Are you saying," Eric said, in mock-amazement, "that additional broken bones have caused you additional pain?"

"What the hell are you grinning like that for?"

Eric put on a relaxed expression, with a phony, dopey smile. "Forman, man," he said in an exaggerated Hyde impression, "I don't feel anything."

"Get bent, man." Hyde rolled his eyes. "I _didn't._ It was sweet."

"Classic Steven Hyde, always the optimist." Eric quipped with a smirk.

* * *

As soon as it was his self designated lunch hour (okay, so maybe he was going to take several hours off, but hey - he was te boss), WB left to pick up Steven and bring him back to his home.

"It's about time my son see where I live," WB said as they pulled up to the lengthy driveway.

"Damn," Steven said, awestruck. "I know you make a lot, but... _damn_."

"What do you think?"

"It's like money threw up everywhere." He turned from the window the face WB. "In a good way. Man, this house could beat up an army of my old house and eat them for breakfast. This is far out. It's like Jackie's dream house. Hell, her old place was a mansion, but this one's still better. Don't ever let her see this place, she'll want to move in."

WB chuckled. "Well, I don't know about Jackie, but you could stay here if you wanted."

"What?" Steven was taken off guard.

"Just until you get back on your feet. Literally."

"Is that why you brought me out here?"

"You said it yourself. You have a great home with the Formans, but everything is split up between floors."

"This place has got way more floors. I don't know, man." Suddenly, his eyes light up. "Do you have an elevator?"

"No, but I do have a bathroom, kitchen, and guest bedroom all on the first floor."

"Well, when you have a point, you have a point."

Finally at the end of the driveway, WB parked the car. "Does that mean you want to stay here?"

There was a pregnant pause as Steven mulled the idea over. "That'd actually be pretty cool. You know what, man, I think that's an offer I can't refuse."

Steven extended his good hand, and the two shook on it.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello, hello! I'm so very sorry it's been a long time; I started school just after posting the last chapter. I thought I'd get another one finished before the first day of classes so that'd I'd b able to tell you all. Didn't mean to leave you in the lurch. But! Thank you so much for your many incredibly kind reviews in the meantime! I'm halfway done with the semester, so uploading will continue to be erratic until winter break, but once December hits you can expect regular uploads again! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll bring you the next one ASAP.**

 **What do you think? There are a lot of balls in the air, several secrets to be revealed to many people now. How will they all react to Hyde's memory being back? How will Jackie react to the stair incident? How will Kitty react to Hyde staying with WB? Find out next time!**

 **Review if you enjoyed this one, and have a lovely day!**


	16. Venturing

**A/N: Hi! Thank you all so much for being patient with this update. The semester is over (FINALLY, HUZZAH!), and it looks like this next one shouldn't be too busy after the first few weeks, unless my classes are unexpectedly ultra-demanding. Therefore, the hope is I'll actually be able to update some during the semester this time. I actually wrote the first part of this chapter during the fall semester, but I'm just now finally finishing it. Lesson learned? It's really hard to suddenly pick up a story after a long time, but much harder to pick up mid-scene. Oops. Hopefully I did my job well, and you won't even be able to tell where that happened in this chapter.**

 **It's really nice to get back to this story. Hopefully you feel the same way :)**

* * *

Jackie knew something was up. The others were underestimating her, but she could tell they were keeping something from her. How come they all had instant answers for everything? And did it seem like she was the only one who hadn't seen her boyfriend recently? Determined to find out if there really was something being hidden from her, Jackie marched into the Forman house with her head held high. Unfortunately, the kitchen was devoid of people to witness her intentional dramatics.

She waltzed past the basement door, from which music could faintly be heard below, and went into Red's den. There was Steven, sitting on his bed...packing a suitcase.

"What's that for?" she asked.

Steven turned his head, now noticing his observer. "Jackie. Hey."

"Going somewhere?"

"Well-"

Suddenly, Jackie's hands rushed towards her mouth. "Is that what the secret is? Are you planning a secret romantic get away? Are we going to Hawaii?" She quickly sat down next to him.

He looked at her with a mix of confusion and amusement. "Yeah, I won the lotto and didn't tell you. Hawaii's expensive doll. Maybe for our-" But he cut himself off.

"Maybe what?"

"Nothin'." He shook his head. "Actually, I got to talk to you about something." There was a pause. Jackie knew hesitation meant big news, which was never a good sign, unless you were digging for juicy gossip about an enemy.

"Yes, Steven?"

A slight smirk made its way onto his face. "On second though, picture us in Hawaii."

"What are we _doing_ in Hawaii?" She smiled.

"We're dancing. My hands are on your hips. And we go behind a palm tree to makeout. And there are flowers and...peacocks...velociraptors. I don't know. What's in Hawaii?" He brushed off his own train of thought. "Not the point. Picture what I was saying before. Now hold that thought."

She leaned closer to him, put a hand on his leg. "It sounds wonderful, Steven."

"Great." He patted the suitcase between them. "WB invited me to stay with him for a while, and I'm gonna take him up on it."

"What?" She backed away. "Why would you do that?"

The casual tone in Steven's voice was so forced it was almost painful. "Because everything's on the first floor, which is cool, since crutches are sort of a problem now, since yesterday, when I sort of tripped down the stairs and busted some more ribs. But yeah, bathroom on the first floor. So that's cool." Eyes cast to the floor, he nodded his heads a couple times. "So that's what's goin' on."

So _that's_ what everyone was hiding! "Did everyone know but me?"

"Well, about the stairs part. The WB thing is new. So hey, you're the first one to know about that."

Jackie glared at him.

Hyde calmly met her eyes, as if he had everything under control. "That Hawaii thing. That was sweet, right? Sort of makes you less mad at me, doesn't it."

"No, it sort of makes me more mad now that I know you only said it before so I'd be less mad now."

"Damn, that seemed like a pretty solid plan while I was sayin' it."

She crossed her arms. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"Because...because..." He scratched his head. "I don't know, at first I just wanted you not to find out 'til I could tell you myself, but then I took a bunch pills and my brain just sort of decided it was a good idea not to tell you at all. But I'm telling you now, so I get credit for that at least." Now his look was less certain.

"Oh, so I should be mad at your brain, and not you?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, that works for me."

"Steven." She sighed, then looked past the secret keeping to the content of the secret. "You fell? How are you?"

"I'm alright."

"Are you?"

"Yeah."

"Really."

"Jackie, I said I'm alright."

"You said you broke more ribs? You can't be alright."

"Jackie, when I say I'm fine, I mean I will be fine. Happy? I will be fine."

Jackie shook her head. On one hand, she liked hearing him admit what she already knew. It always made her feel warm inside hearing a boy say she was right - well, usually. But in this instance, it made her sad to hear him confirm that things weren't great. "You know what, Steven? I actually don't care about being _right_ right now. I just want you to be okay."

"What did I just say?"

"I know, I know. But you should have told me earlier!" she reprimanded.

Steven nodded.

"And next time you want to do something stupid, like ride a dangerous machine you have no idea how to work, ask me and I'll tell you how stupid you're being!"

"Can't wait for that conversation," he droned.

Jackie grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. "I know your life is basically a mess right now, and that totally sucks," she said, noting the scoff it earned her as a reply. " _But_...I'm here to take care of you. And when you're better, we'll go to Hawaii!"

"Yeah. And in between those two things one of us will win the lottery to pay for that trip."

"Oh, Steven." She shook her head at him with a fond smile. "Who needs lotteries when you're from a rich family?"

"I'm not from a rich family."

"But you have a new, rich dad! And Steven - I think it's a great idea to go stay with him while you get better. It'll give you time to get to know him...and get a taste for the finer things in life."

"Jackie, I've told you a dozen times, you're never going to turn me onto caviar."

"It's the epitome of classy food, Steven!"

"Yeah, if you're duck, maybe."

"You have so much to learn. I have my work cut out with you."

He smirked at her. "Ditto."

* * *

As soon as Jackie explained to her friends that she'd come downstairs so Steven could have a private talk with Red and Kitty, Kelso went to the vent to eavesdrop. Afterall, he explained, his cop status made him the most qualified of the group to spy on the conversation.

"I bet it's going to be boring," Eric said. "Besides, nice try hearing anything through there unless Red starts yelling."

"You'd be surprised, Eric. I've heard a lot of good stuff through these vents."

"Um." Donna gave Kelso a weird look. "You know, you guys are a little creepy sometimes."

"Whatever," Kelso brushed her off. "I'm nowhere near as creepy as Fez."

"Did somebody call my name?" Fez asked, turning his face away from the half naked women on the television screen.

"No, buddy, you're good," Kelso said. "Go back to watching the hot chicks so you can fill me in later."

"Goodie!"

Kelso turned back to the vent. He could hear that Red was talking about WB. Kelso would rate the rant at a two or three out of ten on the Red Alert Scale. Kitty was way more freaked out. That was how it usually went; one was trying to talk the other one down. If both Formans were upset with you, you knew you were screwed.

Hyde was talking now. _"Look, he's just trying to be nice, alright? I mean, it would take care of whole stairs thing, which...is pretty cool."_

Mrs. Forman spoke next. _"But it'll be over a month until your shoulder and ribs are healed."_

 _"Yeah, but then I'm back on crutches for another five weeks, so-"_

 _"Oh no, that's too long."_

 _"WB said he didn't mind. And I'd go back to work soon, start paying him rent or something."_

 _"I didn't say WB was the one who_ would _mind."_

 _"It's nothing personal, Mrs. Forman. Seriously, it's mostly about having a ground floor bathroom. I'm not making any major life changes without your input, I promise."_

 _"I suppose, but...once you start spending all of your time there, all of the kids are going to want to!"_

 _"Well!"_ This time, it was Red who spoke. _"Kitty, the boy makes some pretty good points."_

 _"Red, You're just saying that because the house would be quieter."_

 _"That's not the_ only _reason-"_

Kelso stopped listening at that point. He'd heard enough versions of this conversation bit to last him a lifetime, so he was content to rejoin his friends around the television. "Hey, Eric, why does your dad hate people so much?"

Eric bust out laughing. "Why is the sky blue, Kelso?"

Kelso scrunched up his eyebrow. No answer came to him. "I don't know, man. What's that got to do with Red?"

Eric just shook his head.

"No, really. Now I'm all curious and stuff. Why is it blue?"

"Forget it," Eric said.

"I want to know!"

"It's just a rhetorical question."

"But do you know?"

"Of course I...know. Actually." He turned to Donna. "Actually, I don't know why it's blue."

"Aha!" Kelso exclaimed. "Not so stupid now, am I?"

"No," Jackie said, "you're still pretty stupid."

"Hey!"

"Don't worry, my friend," said Fez. "You put the _pretty_ in _pretty stupid._ "

* * *

The next day, Forman and Hyde drove over to WB's mansion.

"Holy crap!" Forman said as soon as Hyde pointed out the property.

"I know."

"I can't believe you're going to stay here. You, Steven Hyde. Our little orphan boy, our rebel without a cause, in a _mansion._ "

"Yeah, it almost feels like a betrayal, doesn't it."

"You know what, man? I say enjoy it. You deserve it."

"I deserve it?" Hyde looked at him skeptically.

"You know. With the hospital and all that, you could use some time in a cool place like this."

"Yeah, like being too dumb to operate a bike means I deserve a mansion."

"You don't... _not_ deserve a mansion. Guess Laurie was right with all that Little Orphan Annie stuff."

"How's that?"

"You know, because halfway through the musical Annie moves in with the rich dude who ends up adopting her?"

Hyde stared down his sunglasses at Forman "How do you know so much about a musical?"

"Uh, because...Laurie...my mom...I...just shut up."

Hyde smirked. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Forman parked the Vista Cruiser, and the two were led inside the great building by WB.

"Your house is so cool," Forman said to the older man, sounding like a giggling school girl. "I mean - wow!"

WB followed Forman's glance around the entry halll. _The guy had a friggin' entry hall._ "Yeah, I've done pretty well for myself, haven't I?"

"I'll say!"

WB chuckled and dropped Hyde's suitcases into the guest suite, which Hyde was pretty sure was bigger than the entirety of Edna's house. Man, his life had been some trip. The Forman's house was nice, but modest...and he did sleep in the basement. Never before had he even stepped foot in a bedroom this big - if he had, he probably would have been accused of stealing something. It really did feel like some kind of betrayal to the Steven Hyde brand, so to speak. That wasn't to say he wasn't grateful for it. It was just...weird.

"Guest bathroom is through there, and you remember where the kitchen is," WB was saying. "Angie's going to stop by soon."

"Cool." There were so many things to look at. A few years ago, he probably would have stolen something from this room, and denounced the kind of person who lived in luxery. It dawned on Hyde (not for the first time), that he didn't know who he was anymore.

"Well, why don't I show Eric around while you unpack?"

"Cool," Hyde repeated, absentmindedly.

"Way cool," Forman agreed, already admiring various fixtures of the house as he followed WB out of the room.

Hyde poked a golden picture frame on the wall. Definitely not real gold. Just painted wood. Hyde felt stupid for even thinking it was real in the first place. The picture it contained was of some nondescript place with tropical plants. Hyde couldn't tell for sure if it was a stock photo or real; he'd have to ask WB the story behind it. There were a lot of things he'd have to ask WB about over his stay. This was shaping up to be one hell of an Autumn.

* * *

 **A/N: How was it? Enjoyable despite the wait? I don't know if I've told you guys this, but I have had a complete outline of this story for a pretty long time now. Sometimes new ideas pop up or end up being a lot longer than expected, of course, but I have it basically all planned. So...next chapter is going to be a time skip. Just a fair warning. I'll quickly catch everyone up on what happened during the skip, but we're going to flash forward a few weeks so when we're down to just crutches, and soon there after to leg cast off. The story won't end there, but it's time for us to move from mostly physical challenges to psychological. You'll see what that means soon ;) If anyone wants a hint: we're gonna see motorcycles again. Also more Angie, because there hasn't been enough of her lately.**

 **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a lovely weekend!**


	17. A Leg Up

**A/N: Well, it's summer again! I've got a lot of assigned reading this summer, but still a lot of spare time left over, so it looks like I'll have a lot more time to work on this again. Yay! Sorry to leave you hanging for so long. It was about this time last year that I started this fic, which is so weird to me. I'm planning to wrap it up by the end of the summer, while I have enough free time to write so that there aren't massive wait times. Thanks so much for sticking with me! Hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

As the hallway was suddenly filled with a loud din, nurse Kitty turned her head to see what all the commotion was about. A team of doctors was pushing a stretcher towards the operating room, trading quickly-spoken comments between each other as they went. It was a pretty typical occasion in the hospital. Kitty silently made a little prayer for all to work out in the poor patient's favor, then looked back down at the patient she had been dealing with. He was a portly man, a few years younger than herself, who had been brought in for burn wounds.

"Well, Mr. Davis," Kitty said, "I'll let Dr. Jacobs know about the bandages. You let me know if they're bothering you again, alright? I know they're pesky, but just try to leave them alone. We want that arm of yours to heal up as quickly as possible!"

The man nodded sheepishly. "I will. Sorry to bother you."

"Oh, you're not bothering anyone, dear."

"Thank you, nurse."

"My pleasure! You let me know how your visit with your daughter goes."

Mr. Davis simply smiled. He was a very quiet man, but Kitty was fond of him. She was fond of almost all of her patients. One of the joys of nursing was getting to form bonds with people, frequently during periods of their lives when they really needed the support. She waved at various other patients as she made her way back to the nurses' station, where she was met with a surprise.

"Steven!"

Her pseudo-son turned his head at the sound of his name, and smiled as they caught each other's eyes. "Hey, Mrs. Forman. How're you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just fine." Unlike the last time she saw him, he was no longer sporting a sling, and was now back on crutches. He must of just had an appointment with his doctor, which meant his shoulder and ribs had healed by now. "Well, look at you! You look like you're doing well yourself, Mr.!"

"Yeah. Back to square one." But his smile betrayed his enthusiasm.

"Oh, you've come a long way."

"Eh. Couple more weeks as Tiny Tim, then-"

"Then you'll be back home!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. That too."

"That too? What else is going to happen?"

"Nothin'. It'll just be cool."

Kitty didn't buy for a second that that was all he was thinking. "Uh huh."

He nodded for a minute, aware that she was suspicious. "Well, it was good seeing you, Mrs. Forman." He started to hobble off.

"Now, wait just a minute, Steven! Do you have to rush off so soon?"

"Aren't you working?" He was right, but it didn't mean he had to practically run away with hardly a goodbye. What was he up to? "It's just...well, WB's kind of waiting for me." _Oh._

"I've been meaning to ask you, do you like it there? It must be fun getting to know your real father, living in that big, glamorous house."

He sighed a bit. "Mrs. Forman, we've been over this. At least twice a week since I moved out."

"Temporarily!"

"Yeah. Temporarily moved out." Ever since her second son had moved out of her house, Kitty had made it a priority to call him regularly and see how he was getting along. He always insted that he was fine, and even though she was happy that he was happy, it hurt a little bit to see him recovering with his real parent. "Hey. We'll get lunch together soon, okay?"

"That would be lovely."

"Sweet. Now don't go worrying too much about me, alright?" He looked towards the exit. "I'd hug you, but my arms are kind of preoccupied."

She smiled at the sentiment. "Go on now, at least one of us better step outside this hospital today and get some fresh air."

"Catch you later, Mrs. F."

"Bye, honey." She watched as he left, trying to regain the hang of crutches. He was proficient enough, but there was slight hesitancy and uncertainty that reminded her of a spindly baby giraffe - not that she'd ever say that to Steven. She reminded herself that there were only a few weeks left until she had her boy back at home, completing the family again (well, minus Laurie, but that was a given at this point). She would have to do something special for his return, which would also mark his recovery. Something cool, that the kids would like. Something with streamers, and maybe balloons! She took out a pen and starting making a list.

* * *

Angie and Steven watched the door close after two young girls they'd just sold a dozen records to. It was Hyde's first full day officially back on the job, and he was enjoying it more than he would ever admit. After being cooped up for too long, even doing inventory seemed sort of fun. Of course, he still had a valid excuse not to do the tedious, physical jobs like sweeping, or wiping down the counter, or restocking. Mostly, he was stuck to paper work, schmoozing customers, and cashier duty, and that was fine with him. The sales were good today, so Angie shared her half brother's pleasant mood.

"Nice job, Steven."

He wasn't sure what she was referring to, so he defaulted to sass. "Ah, working a register is easy. Even a monkey could do it. Like your boyfriend. Compliment appreciated, though, sis."

"No, I mean, with those girls."

"Huh?"

"Are you blind? They were totally into you."

"Uh...I don't think so."

"Why do you think they bought so many records?"

"Because, I gave them expert recommendations. And," he added a cheesey wink, "at great prices."

Angie twirled her hair, doing an imitation of the girls. "Oh my gosh, like, tell me more about your favorite artists." She stopped playing hair, and went back to her regular voice. "They were definitely flirting with you."

"That's the curse of being good looking. It's a burden, but what are you going to do." Doubtful, Hyde scoffed, then went back to filling out the paperwork he'd laid out next to the cash register.

Angie shrugged. "Girls just fall all over hurt guys. They can't help it. Something about vulnerability, I think."

"You say 'they' like you're not one of them," Hyde responded, intentionally disregarding her main statement. His half sister was smart and perceptive, but she wasn't saying anything he hadn't noticed himself the last month and a half.

"Well," Angie continued, "I'm not _one of them_ in this situation, because I'm not going to fall all you, _little brother_."

Hyde cringed dramatically. "You sounded like Laurie there."

"Laurie who?"

He wondered what Laurie was up to these days, and when, if ever, they'd see her again. "Doesn't matter." He turned his attention back to the order forms, while Angie re-alphabetized some records. A young man came in, lazily browsed through a few crates, and brought two records to Hyde at the register. Hyde finished the transaction, noting how weird it was to be happy to be working. After the customer left, the store was silent save for the music playing throughout. Eventually, Hyde threw down his pencil.

Angie asked, "how's the paperwork coming along?"

"I'm done with my homework," he replied slyly. "Can I go play outside now?"

"Sure, Steven. Have fun on the jungle gym."

He rolled his eyes at her. Why did everyone have to bring up his leg all the time? Granted, he really did set himself up for that one. He got up and hopped over to the table where they kept magazines. The were was an automobile catalogue he'd nabbed from the muffler shop that he had been wanting to take a second look at. Realizing that he couldn't carry it and use both crutches at the same time, he settled for sitting on one of the chairs to look over it. There were no customers right now, and it was almost time for their lunch break anyway, so he figured Angie would let him get away with this. He thumbed through the pages until he came across the desired section on motorcycles.

"That doesn't look like work," Angie commented. Guess he wasn't off the hook, then.

"But you said it was recess," he mumbled, half paying attention to her, and half to the catalogue. That was, until she came up behind him and grabbed it out of his hands.

She looked at the page, doing a double take between her brother and the catalogue. She crossed her arms, and said "why are you looking at a motorcycle catalogue?"

"Is that what that is," he asked jokingly. "Thought it was the New York Times."

"Are you thinking about buying one?"

"Yeah, I'm going to buy a motorcycle with the thousands of dollars of debt I have left over from the last one."

"You know dad and the Formans are taking care of that stuff."

Hyde rubbed the back of his neck. "I know." He was going to pay them back as much as he could, however long it took to do so. "I am thinkin' about getting one eventually."

"Are you nuts?" She hissed, right before the bell over the front door jingled, signaling a new customer. Hyde quickly got up, using it as an excuse to exit the impending argument. As he talked to the woman who had just entered, he caught Angie glaring at him several times out of the corner of his eye. Maybe he should have been more discrete. He stupidly had thought it wouldn't be a big deal. He'd made it known on day one that he wanted to ride again, afterall. Luckily for him, a steady stream of customers strarted pouring in, so the squabble was put to the side for quite a while. Angie found a moment to whisper "I'm telling Dad," in his ear as she walked past him. Threatening to tell their dad on him - he really did have a sister. Hyde didn't think WB would stop him, but then again Angie knew him better. He'd almost let his plan slip to Kitty earlier that day, and he'd have to be more careful about that. She certainly would have some strong words on the subject.

Finally, they had to take their lunch break in the back office, sitting on opposite sides of the room. Hyde smiled a bit to himself as he found a note Jackie had slipped into the paper bag he'd packed his lunch in. Cute. He looked at the heart drawn by his girlfriend, then quickly stuff it back into the bag befor Angie felt the need to steal that, too. "Hey, Ang," he said with a mouthful of BLT sandwich, "I can feel your eyes on the back of my head from over here."

"Don't do it," she simply said, sounding tired.

"What am I doing?"

"You don't need a motorcycle."

"Yeah, and you don't _need_ a convertible." Catching her look, he decided he better rephrase. He really wasn't trying to guilt her about her perfect car from WB. "I know I don't need one. I want one."

"Well, don't."

"Just don't think about it, Angie." It would be over a month before he could even get on a motorcycle, and much longer before he'd be able to afford one. There was no need to fight about it.

"Will you even be able to? I mean, with your leg?"

It was a valid question, but he thought she shouldn't think too far in the future about it. He certainly tried not to. The leg had been broken in several places, and this morning his doctor reminded him that in a little over a year, they could consider what he called _hardware removal._ It sounded like somehting a mechanic would do, but really it meant they could do another surgery to remove the plates and pins if they bugged him, which meant more recovery time. So he was determined not to be bugged. That aside, there was still the question of how well it was going to heal _this_ time. "I don't know. So like I said, forget about it."

She looked at him again, then shook her head and went back to her lunch. As she picked up a coke bottle, Hyde spoke up again. "Angie-"

"What?" She snapped. "Are you going to tell me to forget it again? I understand, alright. You want to do whatever you want to do, but I am not going to stand aside and let you get hurt again. That was one of the worst days of my life. So, no, I won't forget about it. And you know what else?" She picked up the catalogue and dropped it into the trash can. "So what were you going to say?"

"Uh...you were drinking my soda."

* * *

 **A/N: So, I'm about as ready as Hyde is to get that cast off, so we're gonna have another time jump between this chapter and the next, to the day that happens. Then we can do some fun new stuff. I'll let you guess what that'll entail. Thanks again for reading!**


	18. Moving Forward

**A/N: Hello again! Quick note. Hopefully it's apparent in the text, but this one takes place several weeks after the last chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

It was a lovely, serene morning in the Forman house. It was a weekend, which held a different meaning back when the kids were in school; Saturday and Sunday were the two days of the week _everyone_ (dumbasses especially) was likely to be in the house all day. Luckily, it was just the family right now, but Red wasn't going to hold his breath. Soon, his house would be invaded, so Red was looking through the paper for some event he and Kitty could go to. His wife, as usual, had made breakfast, and was just adding brown sugar to her oatmeal. Meanwhile, Eric was doodling some kind of cartoon on his napkin while he chewed bacon, so even he was quiet. It was shaping up to be a pleasant family breakfast.

"Guess what day it is," Kitty sang happily as she placed her breakfast on the table.

"Saturday?" Red asked.

She shook her head, grinning from ear to ear. "Guess again!"

This time it was Eric who answered. "No, Mom, I'm pretty sure it's Saturday."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, but what else?" She looked expectantly at her husband and son, who looked at each other and shrugged. "Today is the day...?"

"Uh," Eric looked to his father for help, "today is the day that...I get out of raking the leaves?"

"Nice try," Red said from behind the newspaper he was reading.

Kitty sighed. "You two are impossible. No! Today is the day Steven moves back in!"

Eric's face lit up. "Oh, yeah!"

"Oh, yeah," Red mumbled, less enthusiastically. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just didn't get as excited over things like this as Kitty did. Steven was admittedly pretty enjoyable as far as the dumbasses went, but they'd lived plenty of years without him in the house, and they'd had plenty more pretty soon. What difference did a few weeks make? The boy was practically an adult, he could decide to move in with his real dad for a while. Red had mixed feelings about William Barnett, but not enough that he'd beg Steven to stay. He agreed with all of Steven's reasoning for moving out, and it was nice not to worry about the kid faceplanting under his roof again. Red hated to see him so laid up (and he was sure Steven felt the same way), but whenever he caught himself starting to feel too bad for Steven, he remembered how this all started, and pity became masked by anger. "Hey, I've got a great idea," he said to Eric. "Since Steven is getting his cast off today, he could help you rake those leaves."

His son laughed half-heartedly at his joke, but his wife didn't acknowledge his humor. "He will do no such thing, Red Forman!"

"It was a _joke,_ Kitty." He paused, and smiled at Eric before he continued, "he can do all of the sit-down chores."

Kitty sighed. "Red."

He gave up. "Alright, that's the last time I make a joke."

"And the first," Eric said.

The kid always did have a mouth on him. "Watch it," he warned his son.

Eric frowned. "Guess no one is allowed to make jokes at the breakfast table."

* * *

Jackie, Donna, Fez, and Eric were all sitting around the Forman's kitchen table, while Michael was looking in the fridge. Mrs. Forman was on a house-wide cleaning frenzy today in preparation of Steven's homecoming, and Mr. Forman was upstairs avoiding them. Normally, Red wouldn't have to, because they'd all be in the basement, but they were all waiting for Steven's impending arrival so they could greet him and help him move back into the basement. Jackie was eagerly awaiting her boyfriend's arrival, and was getting Fez's feedback on her nail polish as she applied it. She had to look pretty, but wet nails also got her out of carrying in suitcases (which a girlfriend shouldn't have to do anyways, but she knew her friends would make her pitch in).

Suddenly, Michael pulled his head out of the fridge, exclaiming "Fez!"

"What?" Fez said through a mouthful of doughnut, matching Michael's level of urgency. "Did you find more doughnuts?" He crossed his fingers, hoping there were sweet treats still to be eaten in the house.

"No." Michael shook his head, and Fez deflated in defeat. "I just remembered something I was gonna tell you before I got distracted by the doughnuts."

"Stop saying doughnuts," Fez said, "you only remind me of what I can't have."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Fez, you still have half a doughnut."

"And my heart is _half_ empty," he said back to her. "Kelso, what did you remember?"

"So, when my other cop buddies and me went out for our lunch break yesterday, I saw an old friend of yours." He had one of those dumb, excitable, mischievous smiles he often wore when he was about to cause trouble.

"What old friend?"

Eric said, "was it Jennifer Carlisle, that weird lady from the Piggly Wiggly you liked? She was like sixty."

"She was fifty four and fabulous," Fez corrected him. "At least that's what she always used to say."

"No," said Michael, "an old _girlfriend_ friend."

Donna started guessing. "Big Rhonda?" Michael shook his head. "That girl from the DMV? Nina?" He shook his head again. "Wait...Crazy Caroline?" This time, Michael nodded enthusiastically.

"Aye, no."

Jackie was on Fez's side. Caroline had her nickname for a reason. That girl was unbearable. Fez had dated some weirdos, but Caroline took the cake. At least she was pretty, unlike that giant, Big Rhonda. " _Big_ Rhonda, _Crazy_ Caroline...Maybe don't date girls with awful adjectives attached to their names, Fez."

Donna asked Michael, "did she see you?"

"Yeah, and then she started ranting about Fez, so we ditched her real quick. She said she wants to see you again, buddy."

Fez slumped in his seat. "Aye, _no._ " He drew out the last word. "She probably wants to poison me."

"If she does," Michael said, "I'll make sure she goes to jail for a long, long time."

"Thank you, Kelso," Fez said, not entirely relieved.

"No problem, man. It's my police duty, after all. Yup, it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it." He always sounded self-congratulatory when he talked about his job. Jackie wondered if he really thought he was a gift to the police department, or if he was overcompensating.

She finished painting her last nail and screwed the brush back into the bottle. Now that she was done with that, she had nothing else to keep her preoccupied while she waited. "Ugh, when is Steven going to come?" As she spoke, the sliding door opened, and she shot up from her seat. He was here!

"Speak of the devil?" Steven said in reply to his girlfriend, who rushed to kiss him before he could even step inside. "Hey, doll. Guys, check it out." He gestured to his leg, which for the first time in months was covered by full length jeans instead of a cast. Jackie couldn't stop looking; she had gotten used to looking at the heart she'd drawn on his knee. However, this was a celebratory occasion. His friends cheered, some of them clapping even, until he walked into the room. Or rather, until he _badly_ _limped_ into the room. Then, their cheers turned into sympathetic winces.

"Ouch."

"Oh, man."

Steven, however, didn't seem surprised, nor bothered. He even laughed a bit at them all. Smirking, he put an end to the peanut gallery with a somewhat amused "shut up", and kept walking. WB came in a moment later, suitcase in hand. Donna and Michael, considering themselves the strongest members of the gang, followed WB to his car to get the rest of Steven's bags. Jackie could hear Michael outside yelling about how fancy the car was from the kitchen.

"I am very happy for you, Hyde," Fez said.

"Thanks, man. Me too. Speaking of which, Jackie, I know you're a sucker for manners and appearances and all that junk, so I'm going to warn you now so you won't be disappointed in me later that I am getting _hammered_ tonight."

Eric high-fived him. "Alright, party!"

"I figure after I move all my crap down to the basement, we'll grab lunch, and then I'll head to the liquor store."

Jackie crossed her arms. "So soon?" There was no need to buy alcohol in the early afternoon, unless they were planning to start an early bender, which she certainly would not allow.

"You kidding? Jackie, man, I haven't driven in three months. The Camaro's calling my name."

Donna, WB, and Michael returned with the bags, and Eric excused himself to tell his parents that Steven was back. Kitty practically ran into the room. Red briefly came in to say a mandatory hello to Steven, and was trying to make a quick exit, but got intercepted by Bob Pinciotti. Bob had heard a lot of noise coming from the house, so of course he decided he should come over and join in the fun. It was practically a party. Steven, like Red, was quick to slip away unnoticed, sneaking down to the basement as soon as Kitty was sufficiently distracted. Jackie was having a riveting conversation about seasonal color palettes with Donna, who really needed the education, but decided they should also relocate to the basement. Soon, all of the kids were in their usual seats. It was the first time in weeks they had all been down there together.

"Ah, this is just like old times," Fez commented.

Steven said, "no need to get sentimental, man."

"So, like," Eric said, "this is it, right? Like, your limp will get better, and you're done with hospitals and stuff?"

Steven shrugged. "I don't know about that. I'm getting dragged back there to work on walking better, which is fine, I guess. Starting today I can basically do whatever I want, 'cept climb ladders."

"So I'll cross our names off that ladder climbing competition," Forman quipped.

"Yeah, you do that," said Steven. "It pretty much doesn't matter other than climbing the water tower-"

Jackie cut him off, saying, "Which I'm totally okay with, after what's already happened to you."

He sighed. "Yeah, me too. End of an era, though."

Fez raised an eyebrow. "Now who's getting sentimental?"

* * *

Sitting in the driver's seat of the Camaro again, Hyde was the happiest he'd felt in weeks. He couldn't remember the last car ride he'd taken by himself, so he'd decided to take the scenic route to the liquor store. There was plenty of time to get there and back, and plenty of lost time to make up for. He was greatly enjoying the drive so far - it was the little things in life. Without consciously deciding to, he found himself driving towards his store, and then past it to the road where he wrecked the motorcycle. He didn't even realize what he was doing until he went past the landmark red house. The last time he'd driven at all was driving the motorcycle on this exact course. He found himself thinking about the way the bike handled, how different it was to driving the Camaro. He had no idea what he was doing when tried to drive the motorcycle. It had been so easy to lose control...

Trees rushed past him as he thought about the way the motorcycle slipped out from under him. Houses went by in a blur, but Hyde paid them no notice. All he saw was the road.

Suddenly, a siren sounded behind him, and he was snapped back into reality. Flashes of red and blue filled his rearview mirror, and it occured to him that he had been speeding. "Crap," he muttered to himself, pulling over. He pulled out his liscence and registration, wondering how he hadn't noticed his error before a cop did.

He rolled down the window, and steeled himself.

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter will pick up directly after this one, so you won't be left hanging too long. We'll see some familiar faces, both from the story and the show, AND that party the boys were talking about.**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter, and if you're enjoying the story, please leave a review and let me know what you thought of this one!**


	19. Smells Like Team Spirits

In the few seconds that passed after pulling over, a dozen thoughts flew through Hyde's mind. First of all, Red was going to kill him. And Mrs. Forman was going to be disappointed. And concerned. Man, he couldn't stand any more concern. Then, there was the matter of paying for a ticket when his funds were already so in the red. Would this mess up his insurance? Damn, all he wanted to do was pick up some six packs and have a relaxed (re: wild) night with his friends. He took a deep breath in, and turned on the Zen.

The cop slowly approached Hyde's car. "Well, well, well." Kelso leaned down to be on eye level with Hyde. "If it isn't Mr. Steven Hyde. If that if your real name."

Oh, God. Of course the cop to pull him over would be Kelso. "Hey, man," Hyde started, wondering what approach to take.

Kelso wagged his finger at him. "That's _Officer_ Man to you, civilian." Hyde sighed, and handed over his license and registration. Clearly, Kelso was not going to make this painless. "Do you know how fast you were going, Mr... hmm-" Kelso pretended to study the license, "-Hyde?"

 _Not fast enough_ , Hyde thought, wishing he had been able to avoid this encounter. Instead, he opted for honesty over sarcasm. "No."

Kelso lowered his sunglasses. "You were going forty in a twenty-five zone." He studied his friend for a minute before continuing, "maybe the rules are different in Motorcycle Town, but here in Car Town, twenty-five means twenty-five."

"Alright. My bad." He hadn't even been _speeding_ driving the motorcycle! Well, at least not as flagrantly as he just had been.

Kelso leaned in towards the driver's side window. "Listen, pal, I know you haven't driven in a long time, so I'm going to let you off with a warning this time."

Hyde breathed out a sigh of relief. One less thing he'd have to pay off. "Thanks, man. I appreciate it." His driving record was actually good, save for the recent, infamous blip. He was glad it wouldn't be getting any worse today (at least not on paper, where it counted).

"Don't mention it. Like seriously, Hyde, don't mention it. The other cops would think I was playing favorites." He took a step back and put his sunglasses back on. "Drive safe, dude."

"Will do." If he messed up the Camaro, he wouldn't know what do to with himself.

"Oh! By the way, Hyde, can I bring Angie over tonight to drink with us?"

He couldn't really say no after the favor Kelso had just done him. "Sure, man."

After Kelso drove away, Hyde sat in his car for several minutes, before finally continuing his drive. Now obeying the speed limit, he wondered why he'd gone over in the first place. He'd have to stay more focused. _He hadn't even smoked today, what was wrong with him?_ He tried to forget about it and drive normally, reminding himself that Kelso had made sure it didn't amount to anything. It was all cool.

He stopped at a convenience store and purchased a pack of cigarettes, then meandered to the side of the building and lit one. He got distracted thinking about the cashier, who had been a bitchy cheerleader at Point Place High School, smirking about how far the mighty hath fallen. He'd have to tell Jackie, knowing she'd find the humor in it. On second thought, he'd made out with this cheerleader several years ago, although she'd later deny it. That was probably the reason she'd been staring at him while he browsed the small store. Having neared the end of his cigarette, he sauntered back around to the front, and tossed it into the ashtray of the big trash can outside. Parked just in front of the trash can was a motorcycle, which of course caught his eye. He wondered if he'd ever stop noticing them. Of course, given the bright orange detailing on this one, it was particularly hard not to notice.

He leaned against the brick wall, lit a second cigarette, and studied the bike. This one was really sleek. Nice design. He wished he could remember his own motorcycle better (may it rest in pieces.) It was probably more expensive than the one he was looking at, although he'd never dared to ask WB the make and model for fear he'd be compelled to look up the price and feel like an even bigger asshole.

He hadn't been on his second cigarette long when the door jingled, signalling someone leaving the store. No longer distracted by the motorcycle, Hyde decided he'd better hit the road. He'd just peeled himself away from the wall, and was limping towards the trash again when an older man approached him to borrow his lighter. Hyde obliged.

"Hey, don't I know you?" the man asked, cigarette in mouth.

"I don't know, man." Hyde looked at the guy, who admittedly looked familiar, although he couldn't place why.

Suddenly, the guy snapped and pointed at him. "You're the kid from the record store, right? The one with the motorcycle."

With that, it clicked, and Hyde recognized him as the customer who commiserated with him over road rash. "Oh yeah, you're uh..."

"David James. Remind me of your name?"

"Steven Hyde."

"Right, right. Small world."

Hyde nodded towards the motorcycle, which he figured was David's, since the only other vehicles in the lot were the Camaro and a Fiat. "Sweet ride. I was kind of checking it out."

"Ah, yeah." David's lips curled into a smirk at the mention of it. "It came out of my retirement fund, but I couldn't pass her up." Hyde nodded in response, and they fell into a moment of comfortable silence as they smoked. "If you're ever in the market for another bike," David said, "I recommend orange finish for the same reason hunters wear orange vests. Cars take notice."

"I'll keep that in mind." He snubbed the end of his cigarette into the bin. "I'll be in the market as soon as I pay back my family for hospital bills and the last one...so, probably in ten years."

David chuckled. "Good luck with that."

"Is it cool if I take a closer look?" He gestured to the motorcycle, and David nodded, signalling his approval. Hyde approached it, remembering when he'd first seen his own motorcycle, still high on the element of surprise.

There was a long pause while Hyde looked at the bike, and David looked at Hyde, his head tilted. Eventually, David spoke. "How long had you had yours?"

"About thirty seconds."

David laughed again, until he saw the younger man's expression. "Oh, you're serious?"

"It was my first ride."

"Ever?"

"Yep. Happened so fast, almost feels like I never got the chance to ride it."

"You know, there are classes."

"Yeah, skipping classes was always one of my things. Next time I'll do it right."

He was just about to end the conversation and get on his way, when David James said "you can sit on it for a minute, if you want."

"Seriously?"

"I mean, I'm sure as hell not handing over my keys, but I've been in your spot before. Well - not exactly your place, I had a couple good years under my belt. It's a good rush. First thing I wanted to do after I wiped out was get back on."

"Yeah." Hyde nodded.

With David's permission, he got onto the motorcycle. The first thing he felt was a rush of adrenaline, then, as he gripped the handles, it was replaced by something else. He hopped off, ran a sweaty palm through his hair, said a quick goodbye to David James, and got into the Camaro.

* * *

The door swung open with a bang, followed by the clang of glass as Hyde tossed several bags onto the table. Without saying a word to the others in the basement, Hyde pulled out a bottle of vodka, and took a swig straight from the bottle, while his friends, fully distracted from their talk of television shows now, watched.

"Dig in," Hyde said, once he was done drinking. "I blew a week's paycheck for this. Put it to good use. I don't want to regret this tomorrow." At this rate, Eric was already pretty sure Hyde would regret this tomorrow, but he held his tongue.

Donna looked through the bags, commenting, "wow, Hyde. I thought you were just getting a couple six packs."

"Nah," he said, and took his usual seat in the lawn chair, still holding the vodka.

"Are you alright?" Donna asked.

"Yeah."

"Because..." She looked at her watch, saying, "it's only four o'clock."

He shrugged. "It's five o'clock somewhere."

To this, Eric said, "I see you're wasting no time in making up for lost time." He figured after months of good behavior on the alcohol front, his friend was over-eager to get the party started.

"Yep," Hyde agreed, "today's all about doing stuff I haven't done forever."

"Does that mean you are going to do Jackie tonight?" Fez asked with a grin.

"Shut up," Hyde said, reaching into one of the bags for a can of beer.

This did not go unnoticed by Eric, who chimed in "beer and liquor, never sicker."

"Liquor before beer, have no fear," said Hyde. "What are we watching?"

"Actually," Eric said, "we were just arguing over what to watch when you came, because Fez and I want to watch Charlie's Angels, but Donna wants to watch Little House on the Prairie."

"We were not arguing," Donna said, "we were having a debate."

"Mmm, I'm pretty sure it was an arguement."

"It was a debate."

"But really, it was more of an argument."

"We were having a debate!"

Hyde interrupted, saying, "this is a fascinating fight, but I think I'm going to have a _nap_ if you two don't shut up."

Fez commended Hyde on his burn, but Eric felt that it was in fact a victory, since Hyde had called it an arguement. When he explained this, Hyde said "good point. Since I gave that one to you, only fair that I side with Donna on the show." He grabbed the remote and turned it to _Little House on the Prairie._

"You don't really agree with Donna, you just secretly love that show."

"I do not love _Little House on the Prairie_." He paused for dramatic effect, then smirked. "I just love pissing you off."

"Thanks, Hyde. Always...good to know I can count on you."

Hyde raised his beer can in cheers. Eric fully intended to join him in drinking, as did the others, but probably not until after they'd had dinner with his parents (his mom was planning to surprise Hyde with his favorite meal in honor of getting the cast off), and it was dark out. Until then, there was nothing to do but kill time with television and good company.

* * *

By the time Jackie showed up for dinner, Fez had won control of the remote, and Hyde was trying to stick magnets to his leg, despite them repeatedly falling off.

"Steven, what are you doing?" She asked, in lieu of a hello.

Donna followed her line of sight. "Yeah, what _are_ you doing?" She had been too distracted talking to Eric and Fez about Crazy Caroline to notice what their friend had been quietly doing.

Hyde looked up, suddenly aware of the four pairs of eyes on him. "It won't stick. Guess it's not magnetic."

"Oh," Fez whined, "I wish you had waited for Kelso to try that. We had a bet going."

Hyde pulled down his jean leg, covering the long scar. He kept fidgeting with the magnets, though. Jackie walked over to him and picked up the beer can, which sounded empty. "Oh my god, did you start drinking already?" Then she noticed the vodka bottle, and turned to Eric. "Why didn't you tell him not to? What about your mom's surpise dinner?"

"So much for the surprise now," Fez said.

Eric shrugged. "I thought this would be funnier."

There was a pause before Hyde said to himself, "I should have eaten before I started drinking."

Donna raised her eyebrows. "You think? Maybe we should bust out the idiot helmet." She was joking, but sure enough, they'd end up breaking out the helmet before the end of the night.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'll show a lot more of everyone drinking post-dinner in the next chapter. Let me know if you actually want to see any of that dinner, or just hear about it in post. I'm looking forward to several parts of next chapter, and I hope you are too! If you enjoyed this one, please review and let me know what you thought!**


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